The Shape of Destiny
by LoneWolf1968
Summary: This story will take place between Stargate the Movie and the very beginning of Children of the Gods and that Operation Iraqi Freedom began in the 90's with Desert Storm instead of stewing for a decade until 2003. It has the characters from SG-1 but will not follow the storyline of the show after they return to Abydos after Apophis attacks the SGC in Children of the Gods.
1. Chapter 1

**OK, this is a re-write to correct quite a few errors in grammar and a few things that just didn't make sense. I guess I should stop writing on less than an hour or so of sleep. There is more coming soon, just been a bit busy.**

**The Shape of Destiny**

Supply Convoy

Route Purple

North East Baghdad

20 Feb 1995

**Prologue**

"Contact right! Contact right! Contact right!" Sergeant First Class Jacob N. Hammer yelled. Another flash of yellow light streaked in from the right side of his supply convoy and another gun truck exploded.

"What the hell was that?" Hammer yelled to his driver. The four remaining gun trucks were converging on the right trying to provide suppressing fire to allow the vulnerable supply trucks to escape the carnage. Several more flashes of yellow light came screaming in and two more of his Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAP for short) exploded. SFC Hammer was doing everything he could to stay calm and radio HQ about the ambush.

"Copperhead main, Copperhead main, this is Copperhead One Seven; Charlie Echo is receiving heavy fire. I say again, Charlie Echo is taking heavy fire, requesting air support, my location, time now!" He knew his people in the T.O.C. could pin point his convoys exact location via the satellite tracking computer in his MRAP.

"Copperhead One Seven, this is Copperhead Main, understand Charlie Echo taking heavy fire, C.A.S. in route. Please advise direction of incoming." The calm voice of the radio operator responded. SFC Hammer's remaining Squad Leaders were directing the defense while he was occupied with his Tactical Operations Command. He breathed an audible sigh of relief knowing AH-64 Apache gunships that were flying Close Air Support would be entering the battle soon.

"Acknowledged Copperhead main, incoming fire is coming from my three o'clock. Whoever is hitting us is packing one hell of a knockout punch! They've literally destroyed all but one of my gun trucks and the last one has been disabled." Just then another streak of yellow light slammed into the engine compartment of his RG-33, knocking out both his radios and his satellite.

"Screw this!" SFC Hammer hollered starting to crawl across the center console. "Get out before they roast us alive!" He told his crew. As his driver, Private First Class William Tucker hit the ground. SFC Hammer dove out of the driver's door. He looked around for his gunner but the turret was a melted pile of slag. Sorrow tore at his heart at the loss of another one of his men. The sorrow quickly turned into a burning rage as SFC Jacob Nicholas Hammer low crawled around his burning truck looking for a target.

Looking through the scope on his accurized M-4, SFC Hammer spotted an insurgent pointing what looked like a stick with a wide arrow shaped head in the direction of some of his pinned down men. There was a weird high pitched whine and a yellow ball of light screamed out of the end of the staff. Centering the cross hairs on the insurgents head, Hammer squeezed the trigger and watched in satisfaction as brains sprayed the wall behind the terrorist. He had no idea where these terrorists had acquired such terrible weapons but he was determined to kill as many as he could to take away their new advantage.

SFC Hammer moved away from his destroyed truck to the cover of a low wall paralleling the road. Once he was in position, he searched for and killed three more staff wielding terrorists. Taking advantage of his platoon sergeants disruption of the ambush, PFC Tucker ran from his position and hit the wall next to his mentor. "Nice shootin' Sarge." The young Mississippian drawled. At that moment a round ball with glowing lights landed between them. "Oh shit!" Was all they could say before a blinding light flared and all went black.

**Unknown Location**

The being stirred as it felt something brush the edge of its awareness. Whatever it was that had brushed his consciousness was emanating deep pain, sorrow, and rage. The entity, paused, **"**_**Who am I and what is happening**_**?"** More pain and fear, this from a different source but also close. The first being it had sensed was throwing off waves of hate, burning rage, and determined strength. The second was also sending out waves of hate but also overwhelming fear. Confused the entity tried to sort out what it felt but its mind was clouded as though it was digging through a dense fog. The strain was too much and blackness was closing in.

SFC Hammer awoke to intense pain as someone kicked him in the ribs. "Wake up infidel. You have much to answer for." And the beating began. Jake Hammer didn't think this much pain existed in the entire world. He wasn't sure how much more he could take when he felt an unfamiliar consciousness touch his mind. **"**_**Relax great one, it will be**__**over soon**_**."** Hammer was confused but the touch to his mind provided the distraction he needed to endure the beating.

Hours later he lay battered and bleeding on a cold stone floor. Jake Hammer's mind was drifting, wondering how many of his men had been killed when he heard a faint squeak near his head. He froze as a large rat entered his field of vision and began sniffing around his bloody face. Again he felt the touch of the other mind_**. "Now! Strike now!"**_ Without thinking he snapped his head forward and caught the rat by the back of its neck with his mouth. The rat squealed once then quieted when Hammer bit through its spine killing it. He rolled on his back letting the blood from his kill fill his mouth. Jake almost gagged and threw up, but he knew he would need the strength the dead rat would provide him. As he finished his disgusting meal he felt the touch still with him. **"**_**Sleep now**_**."** It told him.

After the beating of the first day, he saw little of his captors. The other mind was with him most of the time. It seemed as confused and lost as he was. Sometimes Hammer could get perfectly clear images of beautiful stone pyramids, flowing rivers, luscious gardens growing in steeped terraces, and beautiful women. Other times it was as if he were standing in a dense fog where he couldn't see his upraised hand in front of him. He tried to communicate with this other mind but other than the time of the beating and killing the first rat, it had said nothing. All he got now were the images and feelings. He continued to try to contact the mind and also to kill as many rats as he could catch. Hammer could feel himself slowly regaining his strength so he began working to free his bonds.

It seemed like an eternity but in actuality it had only been five days since his capture. The door to his cell opened and a man dressed in a flowing robe entered. The tall man crossed the tiny cell and lowered himself to look into SFC Hammers face. "You killed four of the men that ambushed you. Their Brothers wanted to continue to beat you making you pay for your crimes. I have another purpose for you and need your face to be recognizable so I have sent them away. Your friend is not so lucky; he does not hold your rank." Jake seethed in rage and lunged forward at the smug prick in front of him. The man simply placed his foot on Hammers neck and continued. "Your face is almost healed, that is good." He turned and left the cell. "Wash the remaining dry blood from his face and give him two more days. I will return then." He told one of the guards in the hall. Hammer struggled to his knees. "I'll kill you, you fucking prick! You just wait! I'LL KILL YOU!" He screamed before the guard slammed him in the forehead with his rifle butt.

The next two days were much worse than the first. Guards beat SFC Hammer mercilessly. They avoided his face and anything that would kill him but he could feel himself slipping anyway. Hammer knew he was bleeding internally and there was nothing he could do but try to escape. He had just finished eating another rat and pushing the remains into a hole where he had hidden the others when the door opened and another guard slipped in. Jake lay still until the guard went to kick him in the ribs. Jacob Hammer kicked off the wall with both feet and slammed his shoulder into the guard's knee. He laughed savagely as he felt the knee snap and buckle even over the guard's blood curdling scream. He rolled and drove his own knee into the guard's throat, silencing him forever. He went to stand up when the cell suddenly filled with more guards and the robed man. He knew his chances for escape were gone but he lunged toward the man he swore to kill anyway. It took several minutes and many strikes with the butts of the staffs the guards were carrying, before SFC Hammer was subdued.

"You fight like a true warrior and are indeed a worthy opponent, but today is the day I have need of you." He turned and walked from the cell. "Bring him." He ordered the guards. The guards dragged him from the cell and down the hall to an open space where a camera was sitting on a tripod. As he passed a barred cell he saw PFC Tucker lying on the floor in a pool of blood. Tuckers eyes were following him as the guards dragged him past. The guards sat SFC Hammer in a wooden chair facing the camera and stood on either side of him but slightly to the rear. A large jar covered in cuneiform writing was sitting on a shelf off to the right. For some reason Jake's attention was drawn to the jar and nothing else.

**"**_**Soon**_**..."** It was the first word he had heard from the now familiar mind in six days.

The robed man stepped to Jake Hammers right with a large, wicked looking knife in his hand. Another guard stood behind the camera. With a wordless signal from (as Jake had come to think of him as) "Man dress" the guard behind the camera began recording and "man dress" began to speak. "People of America, The Great Satan. You have invaded our homes, killed our people, and corrupted our way of life. This is a crime against the Iraqi people and ALL the people of Islam. It is a Holy War and we will carry this Jihad to your very doorstep when you least expect it. Today, one of your Infidel soldiers will be punished for your crimes." He stepped closer to Jake and one of the guards grabbed Hammer by the forehead and pulled back, exposing his throat for the saw edged blade. That was the moment Jacob Hammer lived up to his nickname. He threw himself to his left and kicked "man dress" in the chest with all of his might. The move caught everyone totally off guard.

"Man dress" flew backwards and slammed into the shelf containing the jar, snapping his back instantly and fulfilling Hammer's promise to kill him. With a surge of adrenaline Hammer pulled at his already weakened bonds, separating the zip cuffs. Roaring like an enraged bull Hammer grabbed the dropped knife off of the floor and drove it through the closest guard's throat. Neither Hammer nor the two remaining guards noticed the jar crash to the floor or the snake like creature that was freed when it shattered. The entity was suddenly free and recognition came quickly now. It sensed the strong mind close by and remembered its earlier question. "Who am I?"

**"**_**I am Bilgames and I am of the Tok'ra**_**!"**

The initial surprise had worn off of the two remaining guards and they had attacked Jake with a vengeance. Hammer was hard pressed to keep them off of him with his injuries beginning to slow him down. The knife he killed the first guard with had become lodged in the guard's spine so he grabbed the staff and slammed it into the camera guard's groin. He was turning to face the last standing guard when a flash of movement caught his eye. He jabbed the arrow head shaped point of the staff directly into the guards Adams apple. Hearing a satisfying crunch and gurgle he turned to face the movement. The occupant of the broken jar launched itself at SFC Hammer before he could react and flew straight into his mouth. Hammer gagged and fell to his knees trying to force himself to vomit to expel the creature that had just flown into his throat. It was to no avail as the symbiont had passed through the thin lining in the back of the throat and was integrating itself into his spinal column and brain. Normally the Tok'ra didn't take hosts against their will but this was a special situation. Bilgames had sensed something special in this man's mind and knew both would die if he didn't take Hammer as a host.

The guard Jake had hit in the groin was starting to try to stand up when Hammer looked him in the eye. SFC Hammers eyes flashed yellow as if they had a light behind them. Jake Hammer spun the staff toward the still crouched guard and shot him in the face with it. More guards were running down an adjacent hallway toward the prison cells. Bilgames spoke to Jake's mind clearly for the first time. "**_I am healing your injuries and I am already weak. If you do not kill them all and then escape, we will both die_**." Jake grimaced and stepped into the open hallway firing the staff weapon as if it were a full auto machinegun. Bilgames had placed the knowledge of the auto fire setting into Jake's mind before emerging himself in healing the injuries.

When no more guards showed themselves, SFC Hammer moved back down the row of cells until he reached his drivers cell. He pointed the staff at the lock and blasted the door open. He stepped inside the door and began to evaluate Tucker's injuries. "Dude, you're busted up pretty bad, but I have to get you out of here." He explained. Tucker just nodded his head. Jake helped him sit up then lifted him onto his left shoulder as gently as he could. The injured private managed to stifle a scream and keep it to a long moan. "That's it kid, hang in there." Hammer tried to reassure the young soldier. He felt the Tok'ra symbiont in his mind. "**_I've at least stopped your internal bleeding; I can do no more until I recover. You are on your own until then_**." With that Bilgames literally passed out.

Hammer made his way down the hall as quickly as he could. He could feel PFC Tucker breathing against his back but could tell he had passed out also. A guard stepped into the hallway and tried to fire an AK-47 at Hammer. Jake was too fast for him even with the symbiont sleeping. He hit the insurgent right in the heart with a staff blast. He killed eight more before he made it to the archway leading into an open courtyard. Across the courtyard he could see a heavily barred gate leading to freedom. He eased forward looking carefully at the walls lining the courtyard.

He spotted another guard taking aim at him from the wall. He turned the staff toward him but before he could fire, the guards head vaporized and he fell from his perch. Hammer heard four more bodies hit the ground and then the gate was blasted into toothpicks. SFC Hammer took cover and trained the staff on the still smoking hole where the gate had been. A file of fast moving soldiers rushed through the smoke and fanned out in covering positions. Jake recognized the pattern as that taught to most American line units for covering an open area or room with interlocking fire. He stayed under cover but called out. "Don't shoot! I'm an American soldier! I have another wounded soldier here with me!" He lowered the staff weapon and moved into the open. The soldiers covered him with professional ease. "Drop the weapon and don't move!" Jake did as he was told and soon both he and PFC Tucker were in a Medavac bird bound for Camp Liberty.

After the Special Forces team had loaded SFC Hammer and PFC Tucker onto the Medavac bird, they began collecting all of the weapons they could find and placing them in a centralized location out of sight. Master Sergeant Frank Ascott was holding the staff weapon that SFC Hammer had used to make his escape. "Hey Q, what do you make of these things?" He asked the team's weapons expert. Q, (aka Tim Harris) stood scratching his head in puzzlement. "I don't know Boss; I ain't never seen nothing like it." He picked one up from the pile at his feet and began looking it over.

As he was carefully inspecting the staff he flipped the toggle switch about halfway down the shaft. The "arrow head" split with an audible click exposing the firing port. He looked at his team leader and grinned as he pointed it toward the wall and pushed the toggle all the way forward. A yellow streak of light screamed out of the firing port and blasted a smoking hole in the wall. "Holy crap! Did you see that Boss? I gotta get me one of these!"

MSG Ascott just looked back and forth between the staff and the smoking hole in the wall. "Better put that down Q, before someone gets hurt. No wonder we've been getting our asses kicked. How the hell did these savages get their hands on something like this?" He held up his hand to signal the other members of his team to stand down as they called out from the corridor. He reached up and keyed the wireless headset. "Viper base this is Viper 7 over, theory confirmed, package is present." After a slight pause he heard, "Roger Viper 7, understand package is present." With that transmission confirmation, he knew it was going to be a very long night.

Within minutes of that short radio conversation, MSG Ascott heard a light crackle in his headset. "Viper 7 this is Viper Base, secure courtyard, specialists in route for extraction." Ascott grimaced at the word "specialists" and keyed his throat mike. "Roger Viper Base, acknowledge secure courtyard, specialists in route." It wasn't long before he heard the roar of a MV-22 Osprey overhead as its rotors tilted from horizontal flight and eased down into the courtyard. A squad of heavily armed Marines fanned out around the Osprey and took up defensive positions. Two men in suits strolled down the ramp behind them followed by another squad of marines carrying only side arms. MSG Ascott met them as they stepped of the ramp. Before he could introduce himself, one of the men held up his hand. "Just show us where the package is." Ascott just stared at the man for a bit.

Finally he shook his head in amazement and lead the way to the pile of arrow headed staffs and other assorted stuff that he had no idea what it could be. The man that had spoken in the courtyard looked over the pile and then to MSG Ascott. "How many of your man have seen this and is this all of it?" This question made the hair on the neck of the battle seasoned Special Forces Operator stand up. "This is all we found and what difference does it make how many of my men saw it?" The man just smiled a cold, humorless smile. "I'm just trying to be thorough Master Sergeant, just trying to be thorough."

With that he nodded to the squad of Marines behind him. The Marines quickly loaded the "package" into the waiting Osprey then disappeared in different directions throughout the compound. While they were gone the two men in suits walked back to the Osprey and stood at the top of the ramp talking quietly with one another. MSG Ascott's battle honed instinct was telling him something was wrong. He stepped around the corner out of sight of the two men in the Osprey and the Marines still guarding it. Ascott reached up and keyed his throat mike three times. A few seconds later, he heard twelve distinct pops as his team each keyed their throat mikes once each in acknowledgement.

Almost as one, the squad of Marines the first spook had sent into the compound returned carrying a large box. They loaded it onto the Osprey and took seats along the walls. The other squad that had been guarding the Osprey quickly filed up the ramp and took their seats as well. As the MV-22's rotors began spooling up, the man in the suit locked eyes with MSG Ascott. Ascott had been in the Army twenty-seven years and the Special Forces for twenty-five of that. He had never felt anything like the cold chill that went down his spine from that one stare. As the Osprey lifted into the air and out of sight, MSG Ascott turned and ran as fast as he had ever run toward the blasted open gate.

His men had already made a discreet exit after he had transmitted the bug out order by the keying of his mike earlier and were waiting for him at the prearranged rally point. When Ascott didn't slow down upon reaching the rest of his team, they exchanged looks and took off to catch up to their leader. Behind them they heard a screech of an incoming missile and a large explosion that knocked them to the ground even from over a kilometer away.

The compound where they had found SFC Hammer and his driver was nothing more than a smoking crater now. MSG Ascott was not happy. Matter of fact he was positively livid. His government or specifically the CIA had just tried to kill him and his men. He didn't know why but he was determined to find out. With that thought burning through his brain, MSG Ascott got up, dusted himself off, and looked to his men.

"They just tried to kill us. If we go back to base, they will try again. Hopefully they think they got us since they haven't fired a second missile. We need to hole up until we can escape back home or figure out why our country tried to kill us. If they tried to take us out, they will most likely try to take out SFC Hammer and his driver too. We can't let that happen, they've been through enough already. Q, Boomer, you're with me, the rest of you, head to the cave." His men were professionals and not a single one let slip what most of them were truly feeling. As one, the Elite Special Forces team melted into the desert going two separate directions.

**Field Hospital**

**Camp Liberty Iraq**

SFC Jacob Hammer was lying in his bed pretending to be asleep. He was still pretty freaked out by this voice in his head and from the fact he had an alien inside him. The symbiont had awoken a few hours after Hammer had been admitted to the hospital. It had explained to the Soldier what it was and the benefits he could provide. "**_We of the Tok'ra normally only take willing hosts. Unlike the Goa'uld we live a truly symbiotic relationship with our host._**_"_SFC Hammer could see the images of great battles long passed and realized he was sharing the memories of Bilgames, the symbiont he was carrying.

He came to learn that Bilgames had originally come to Earth around 2600 B.C. and had inhabited the Sumerian Hero King, Gilgamesh. He had been defeated and imprisoned in the stasis jar (the jar that SFC Hammer had been drawn to in the camera room) by the Canaanite God Ba'al (who wasn't actually a God at all but another member of the same race as Bilgames.) Bilgames and Ba'al were part of a race known as Goa'uld that could form a symbiotic attachment with a host by entering a host body and integrating itself into the hosts spinal column and brain. But Bilgames was a part of what was called the Tok'ra or basically the Goa'uld Resistance that was sworn to fight the Goa'uld.

While Jacob Hammer was trying to wrap his mind (literally) around all of this, a Doctor came into the room with a syringe in his hand. Hammer pretended to still be asleep as the syringe was inserted into his I.V. A cold feeling started to flow up his arm and he felt relaxed. That is when the symbiont spoke again. "**_Do not move or let them know you are awake. That is a poison flowing through you but I can neutralize it so no harm comes to you. Just lie still and trust me._**" With the warning given Bilgames went to work to eliminate the poison. He also started slowing reducing Hammer's heart rate until it was undetectable. The Doctor (who was actually the CIA suit that had spoken to MSG Ascott) felt Hammer's neck for a pulse. Satisfied that another witness was eliminated, he slipped the syringe in the pocket of his smock and left the room.

MSG Ascott and his two team members watched from the shadows as the fake Doctor left the room. "Damn," muttered Ascott under his breath. "We're too late. Q, go find his driver and see if maybe we can at least save him." Q nodded and faded further into the shadows before silently slipping away. MSG Ascott and Boomer moved into Hammers room to see if there was anything they could do.

As Ascott felt Hammers neck for a pulse, SFC Jacob Hammer flew off the bed and grabbed Ascott in the most powerful choke hold MSG Ascott had ever felt in his life. "Who the hell are you and why did you try to kill me?" Boomer held up his hands to show he wasn't a threat. "Dude, we didn't try to kill you, we are the S.F. team that found you. We came here to try to rescue you but saw the CIA dude, that tried to have us killed, leaving your room as we got here. We thought he had beaten us to you." Hammer released Ascott. "He did, no time to explain right now, but yeah, he shot me up with poison but I survived. I'll explain later, let's get my driver before they do and get the hell out of here.

Just then Q slipped back into the room. "Too late Boss, Suit Boy must have gone there first before he came here. The kid's been dead for awhile." Hammer swore softly and almost punched the wall but stopped himself before actually hitting it. Bilgames had warned him that as long as he had Bilgames as a symbiont, his strength would be greatly magnified and hitting the wall would be a very bad idea if they wanted to escape undetected. "**_Easy Great One let us leave and avenge his death later_**_."_

Hammer wrinkled his brow. "_Why do you call me Great One?_" Bilgames chuckled in Hammers mind. "**_When you first brushed my mind, I sensed something special about you. To be honest, we should not have been able to communicate with each other until we blended. I wasn't sure why until we did blend. You have a special and powerful genetic make-up. There once was a great race of people that populated this galaxy, they were called the Ancients. They built a vast network of Chappa'ai, a great ring that could transport a person or object instantly to another world, and which the Tok'ra believes once ruled most if not all of this galaxy. You have much of the genetic make-up of that race. I can teach you how to build a device that will enable you to locate the_**__**_Chappa'ai_**__**_on this world and other technology that will prove very useful to you. I may be able to access your genetic make-up to learn how to build some Ancient technology. I cannot guarantee that I can, but it is worth a try I would think._**"

As they moved down the hallway and out the same way MSG Ascott and his men had entered, Hammer chuckled slightly to himself. "_You were a bit of a rebel weren't you? One thing at a time though, we get out of here first and get back home if possible."_

"**_But most of the technology you will find will be in this part of the world_**_."_Bilgames countered. _"_**_There may be more elsewhere but most of the Goa'uld ruled from Egypt to China. There were a few on another continent across the sea, but not many._**_"_ Jacob wrinkled his brow in though again wondering if all the "Gods" of old were Goa'uld or Ancients. _"_**_No, the Ancients never really portrayed Gods, just wise men and women from afar. But there was another race that I do know of that did portray Gods. They were called the Asgard. But they did not rule with fear and torture as the Goa'uld did. They were more like parents and nurtured the humans as their children. They did honor prowess and strength in battle though. They were at war with the Goa'uld last I knew_**_."_ Hammer almost felt dizzy from all he had learned in the last couple of days. _"Let's just concentrate of getting out of here and go from there." _

_"_**_Agreed_**_."_Bilgames added before becoming quiet to further study the remarkable genetics of his new host.

The four men made their way to a part of the wall that was hidden from view. The only thing able to "see" that part of the wall was a series of sensors that Boomer had temporarily disabled to allow them to slip onto Camp Liberty undetected. Once they were over the wall and out of range of the sensors, Boomer reactivated them before following the rest of the group. After about an hour on the move, MSG Ascott signaled for a halt. He approached Hammer. "Are you alright? You looked like hell warmed over when we put you on that chopper. But now, you look good as new and able to take on my whole team at once?" Hammer chucked and repeated part of the phrase Bilgames had used explaining to him why their minds touched before the blending.

"Good genetics I guess Boss…" Ascott looked him over then signaled the group to move on. _"How can I explain to them what is happening so they won't get suspicious of me? He looked at me like I had some disease or something."_Calmly Bilgames answered. _"_**_Do not tell them anything more than you just did. From what I see in your mind, the people of this world would not understand and would attempt to separate us. We can do a lot of good for this world if you trust me and allow me to remain_**_."_ Hammer thought quietly for a little bit. _"I've had a lot of ideas about how I would really like the world to be. I can see in your mind, technologies that would make the world a much better and safer place. I also see technologies that, if allowed to slip into the wrong hands, could destroy the planet."_

Bilgames agreed silently. _"_**_The choice is yours Great One. We can stay here and help to make this world a better place for all, we can just leave and go to another world, or we can do both. We can find the Chappa'ai, make a place for ourselves on another planet, use that planet as a base of operations, and return here whenever we want_**_."_ Hammer liked the idea of having a base of operations on another planet. _"I've always wanted to go to another Planet. And it would make it easier for us to work and build the technologies you describe. We could work in peace without interference from the Governments of Earth. Then return when we are strong enough to make a difference."_ Bilgames sighed inwardly to himself. Though the Tok'ra never took an unwilling host except on very rare occasions, he knew this had been a stroke of destiny.

The four men moved silently through the night and arrived at the cave just before daybreak. As they approached the cave MSG Ascott let out a low whistle that sounded like a desert night bird. He didn't move forward until he heard the responding whistle from one of his men posted on sentry duty just above the cave entrance. Once inside and sitting comfortably around a small camp stove, MSG Ascott looked toward Hammer. "Ok, so tell me how you are now completely healed of all your wounds in less than 24 hours." Hammer looked into the fire from the small stove. "You really wouldn't believe me if I told you. Can we just leave it at good genetics for right now? I promise I will let you know everything once I've got everything sorted out myself." Ascott was a battle seasoned vet and he could tell Hammer was fighting an inner battle. Actually Hammer wasn't fighting a battle he was trying to make sense of all the new knowledge he was gaining from blending with Bilgames.

Hammer looked up and saw Ascott watching him. "Let me guess, they tried to kill you and your team after they landed and collected all of the Alien Technology?" Ascott blinked, "Alien Technology? You're telling me that staff thing and the other stuff is from another world? You must have taken a harder knock to the head than you think." Hammer just laughed. "No, I'm not delusional. Those and the round shock grenade they used to knock me and my driver out are alien tech."

He looked around the cave to see if it might contain the components he needed. "I'm going to need a few things and I'll prove it to you. I know you aren't happy at the fact they tried to kill you, trust me, I'm not happy they tried to kill me either, or the fact that they did kill Tucker." He looked around the cave at the men arrayed there. "I'll need a metal detector, some isolinear circuit cards, one of the radios, a tool kit, and one of the LRAS (Long Range Advanced Surveillance System)." Ascott laughed until he could barely breathe. "Does this look like a Radio Shack? Where the hell are we going to find isolinear circuit cards? Everything else we can scrounge up around here." Hammer thought for a bit and inwardly consulted Bilgames to see if there might be a substitute. Bilgames searched through the memories of his host. "**_You should be able to build a suitable substitute from a laptop and one of the GPS's I believe_**_."_ Hammer chuckled at the unfamiliar way his new friend described the laptop and GPS.

"If someone is willing to sacrifice a laptop and one of the GPS's, I think I can piece one together from the circuit cards in them." Once all the pieces of equipment had been collected and brought to Hammer, he set to work dismantling each item and piecing together the parts he needed. MSG Ascott moved over to watch with curiosity as Hammer worked. "What are you building Bro?" Ascott asked. Hammer furrowed his brow as he answered. "If this works the way I'm thinking it will, this will become a short range scanner that will detect the energy signature of the alien technology I was telling you about. Granted it won't have a range of much more than 500 to MAYBE 1000 meters if I'm lucky. But I think some of the Archeological digs around should be a good place to start looking."

Ascott's head snapped up. "Why would those places be a good place to look?" Not wanting to give too much away just yet, Hammer answered carefully. "Well, if my theory is correct, the Gods of the ancient Sumerians or any of the ancient worlds were not Gods at all but members of an advanced alien race posing as Gods." Hammer could see that the S.F. team leader was skeptical so he went on. "Have you seen the destructive power of one of those staff weapons? I watched as my convoy of heavily armored gun trucks was torn to shreds by those. They melted the armor like it was butter. Granted they aren't as accurate as our rifles but I don't believe they were made to be. I think they were made as weapons of terror. Yes they are destructive, yes they are powerful, but that screech they make when fired and the blinding flash are made to scare the hell out of you even if it doesn't hit you."

MSG Ascott sat thinking about what he had just heard. "You may be right, but I would sure like to harness that kind of firepower into an accurate rifle or even pistol type weapon." Hammer smiled. "Give me time Bro; give me a little more time. First we have to try and find some of the tech if we can. We'll just need to move at night and hold up someplace during the day." He continued working with the scanner he was slowly piecing together.

Three hours later Hammer sighed in satisfaction as he soldered the last piece into place. He stood up, stretched and walked over to a shelf on the wall that held food and soda. He grabbed a quick bite to eat and a warm can of Pepsi before strolling back to his newly created scanner. As he was munching on some cheese and crackers, he reached over and flipped the switch to turn on the scanner. It pulsed slightly as it warmed up. Hammer took a drink of the warm soda then froze as the scanner started beeping.

"Ummmm, MSG Ascott." He called to the sleeping form across from him. "Either we have some of that tech real close or I wired this wrong and it's picking up your gear." Ascott came awake instantly at the sound of his name and sat up. "Frank, call me Frank. There is a wall made out of some type of metal at the back of the cave with some strange writing on it. It sounds solid and our ground penetrating radar couldn't see past the wall." Hammer jumped up and ran toward the back of the cave. "Jake, call me Jake, follow me." Frank Ascott laughed and followed Jake.

When he reached the back of the cave he found Jake carefully studying the wall in the beam of a flashlight. He was mumbling slightly under his breath in a strange language that Ascott couldn't understand. Once Jake realized that Frank was looking at him strangely he explained. "Sorry, ancient cultures have been a fascination of mine since I can remember. This is ancient Sumerian. This says that the goddess Inanna resides within. Inanna was the Sumerian Goddess of War, Sexual Love, and Fertility." Ascott shook his head, "Well if she is, she's buried deep. Like I said, our GPR showed it is solid behind the wall." Hammer just smiled as he continued to look over the wall. He saw what he was looking for and looked at Frank. "Care to make a bet on that? Before you answer, grab your weapon, a couple of your guys, your gas masks, and loan me a weapon and mask."

Frank looked a little puzzled but quickly gathered two of his men and the requested equipment. As Hammer accepted the loaned H&amp;K MK-23 he grinned and explained. "These tombs have been sealed for thousands of years. The air inside them is usually toxic, thus the gas masks. You might also want to warn your remaining men that when I open this door, the air will flow out and into the cave. Probably best to set a fan blowing toward the exit of the cave to clear out the toxins." Ascott donned his mask and told his men to do the same and set the fan where Hammer had suggested. He still wasn't sure why he was following along since he KNEW that behind the wall was nothing but dirt and rock.

As he returned to where Hammer and his other two men stood waiting, Jacob Hammer reached to the wall and turned a small star symbol. Frank Ascott almost fell over when a large door formed in the wall in front of him and swung inward. "What the hell? How did you know about that?" Hammer looked toward the astonished Green Beret. "I've learned that most of the "False Gods" like Inanna used their symbol as a key. With Inanna, it's the star. With Nanna, the God of the Moon, It's a half crescent moon, and so on." With that explanation he interlocked his hands back to back and entered the dark tomb with his flashlight shining into the dark opening.

As the four men moved down the long corridor, Bilgames was explaining more history to his host. "**_Inanna was probably one of the cruelest of the Goa'uld to rule out of this region. Her host was a truly beautiful woman so the dual Goddess of War and Sexual Love fit her perfectly. She was utterly ruthless in battle and equally as insatiable in the sleep chambers. If she is truly entombed here, do not wake her, shoot her on sight. She will not hesitate to kill you and all humans that oppose her_**_."_

Hammer signaled for a stop then motioned Frank over. "Ok, you see I was right about this being here. Now, the reason you couldn't see passed the wall with your GPR is this place is shielded against scanning. The only reason my scanner got a hit is it picked up the shielding, nothing beyond. But if this place is truly the resting place of Inanna, she may very well still be here." It was all Ascott could do not to ask Hammer again if he had taken a much harder hit to his head than he thought. Hammer could see the skepticism in Frank's eyes. "Frank, I'm serious. If she's here she will have been placed in a sarcophagus made of the same advanced alien technology that fooled your GPR. It could be keyed to activate the second we entered the tomb or when we enter her actual burial chamber. If so, do not hesitate to fire. But make sure you aim for the head, chest shots will be ineffective against her unless you empty the mag into her."

As they moved further down the corridor, torches along the walls suddenly flared to life. They found several skeletons encased in a type of plate armor. Jacob paused to inspect the skeletons and the staff weapons they still clutched. "Ok, this is interesting; these are what are known as Jaffa. They served as foot soldiers and supposedly incubators for the race posing as Gods. From what I have been able to learn from my research, this race called themselves Goa'uld".

Frank Ascott was getting increasingly uncomfortable with all this talk of aliens and advanced technology. He was puzzled at the reawaking torches. "Ok, if they are so advanced, why torches? Why not light bulbs of some kind." Hammer walked to one of the torches and placed his hand in the flame. Frank leaped forward to pull his hand from the fire. He stopped cold when he saw the wrinkles around Hammer's eyes and knew he was smiling. "The flame is a hologram. It has no heat. It is simply for effect and to light the way." Frank furrowed his brow in thought and followed Hammer on down the corridor. As they passed doors, they would clear each room and mark the door frame with a piece of chalk. When they realized several of the rooms led to other corridors or rooms, Ascott sent one of his men back to gather all but one of the team. "Go back and grab everyone except Boomer. Send Q on down with us and have the others start clearing and securing these rooms behind us. Shoot anything that moves that isn't us." Hammer nodded in affirmation when Ascott looked his way. They waited for Q to join them before moving on.

At the end of the corridor, the path became a T junction. Ascott signaled for another of his men to come forward and sent them down the corridor to the right as Q, Hammer, and he took the left. Forty meters down the left corridor, the hallway turned back to the right with doorways scattered along both sides of the hall. Hammer reached up to wipe the sweat out of his eyes before he remembered he was wearing a gas mask. He chuckled to himself as Bilgames' words filled his mind. _"_**_If the lighting is coming on, the life support should be functioning as well_**_."_Hammer could feel a light breeze on his bare arm. He signaled another halt and approached Ascott. "Feel that?" He asked as he held his hand up to the light circulation. "It must be some kind of air circulation system. It might be safe to remove these masks." With that he reached up and removed his mask. He wrinkled his nose at the stale smelling air. "It's safe, it just smells a bit musty and stale." He stowed his mask as the other two men removed their masks and Ascott spoke softly into his throat mike to let the other search teams know as well.

The four teams slowly searched every inch of the complex except the two massive doors at the end of the long corridor. The right corridor had followed the same pattern as the one Hammer and his team were searching, joining up with that corridor and leading to the two massive doors. The main difference with the right corridor was the doors on the right side of it were larger than the corridor on the left. While they left one man in the corridor to guard it, team two searched the rooms on the left side of their corridor. Once those rooms (which turned out to be sleeping quarters the same as the doors on the right side of the left corridor.) were cleared, Staff Sergeant Johnny Belkin, radioed Ascott. "Boss, I think you guys are going to want to see this. The doors on the right side of our corridor look like barn doors or something." Ascott looked at Hammer. "We've got these cleared and JB says there are barn door size doors on his right side. He thinks we should see them."

Hammer, Ascott, and Q took up a light jog back the way they had came and followed the right corridor until they linked up with SSG Belkin's team. Hammer looked at the doors but didn't open them. "Radio the rest of the team and see if they've cleared everything behind us." Ascott radioed the rest of his team. They said they were almost finished clearing the last room which appeared to be a very large kitchen.

Ten minutes later teams three and four joined up with the rest of the group. "All clear back that way Boss. It was mostly storage rooms, a few bedrooms, a huge kitchen, and some cells it looked like. Two of the cells had skeletons in them. What was weird about the skeletons was it looked like a snake skeleton wrapped around their spinal columns and into the base of the skull.

Hammer could feel the sadness emanating from his symbiont. "**_Those in the cell must have been Tok'ra or subservient Goa'uld that proved a disappointment to their Mistress. Either way it bodes well for our chances of Inanna not being here. If she were still alive when they were imprisoned, they would not be dead now. She would have tortured them to death then placed them in a sarcophagus to raise them from the dead so she could torture them to death again. As I said, she was a very cruel and ruthless Goa'uld. We should search further down before we enter these doors. If this follows the layout of most Goa'uld palaces, Inanna's burial chamber should be at the end of the two adjoining corridors_**_."_

Hammer waved for Frank Ascott to join him. "I think we should leave a guard here and another at the end of the corridor ahead. Unless this place is laid out different than the other tombs I've studied, this corridor should turn left up ahead and join the corridor we just searched. There should be another long corridor that leads to Inanna's burial chambers. As you saw earlier, this is not only her tomb, but it served as her Palace and temple while she ruled. There are sleeping chambers for her servants and worshippers, prison cells for her enemies, and a kitchen to prepare food for her and her worshippers.

Some of those storage rooms may also contain weapons and other technology we can use. I would prefer to check on her Burial Chambers and hope she is not there." He could see Frank was still not convinced that anyone could live that long no matter what technology they had. Frank still followed Hammer down the corridor, leaving team four guarding the "barn doors" and team three guarding the corridor junction where the left and right corridor met. At the end of the long corridor leading away from the junction was a pair of large metal doors. Hammer studied the twin doors for a bit. There was a strange looking device with a star shaped hole on each side joining the two doors. "Damn, it's locked and I didn't see anything that looked remotely like a key in any of the rooms we searched." JB shook his head. "Neither did we, maybe one of the other teams did."

Ascott radioed teams three and four but got the same negative results. "Well, they have to be here someplace; otherwise we'll need Boomer in here with some detcord or an acetylene torch." Ascott sent team two back to search all of the rooms behind them more thoroughly. Since they had already been cleared, one man could search through each room safely. Hammer asked Bilgames if he had any suggestions.**_"Locks like these are rarely used unless the ruling Goa'uld is extremely paranoid or has offended another more powerful Goa'uld. They are usually filled with a powerful explosive so I would not suggest trying to cut through them. A staff blast would not be wise either as the doors are usually made of a very dense naquadah alloy."_**

Hammer thought for a bit. "On second thought, send someone to replace Boomer and have him bring a block of C-4 and a remote detonator. These things may be booby trapped and I'd rather everyone be around the bend of the corridor if we can't locate the keys and have to blow this thing." Frank thought that was a pretty good idea and radioed SFC Hopper (the leader for team four) to send one of his men back to replace Boomer and pass the message to him on what to bring.

Ten minutes later Boomer arrived with the explosive and the detonator. He looked over the lock for several minutes before deciding the proper spot to attach the C-4. He pulled the small tab on the detonator that armed it. "Ok, she's set." They all turned and trotted to where the corridor made a T and ducked around the corner. "Fire in the hole!" Boomer called before flipping the protective cover over the switch up and pressing the button on the detonator. There was a loud crack of the C-4 detonating followed almost immediately by a second loud crack of the explosive that was the trap in the locking mechanism. Hammer raised his weapon and moved down the corridor to the now wide open doors.

Inside the chamber, the Special Forces team fanned out to cover Hammer as he took in the impressive view around him. As with the rest of the temple/tomb, torches and large brass braziers leapt to life as they entered the room. Against the far wall, opposite of the door they entered, was an ornate throne. On a raised dais to the right of the throne was a large golden sarcophagus. At the foot of the sarcophagus, lying sprawled on the floor was a skeleton. Jake Hammer approached the skeleton and pointed to the point where the spine and skull were connected. "Look there, another small skeleton wrapped around the spine and traveling up into the base of the skull." He then walked slowly passed the two skeletons and turned his attention to the writing on a small plaque in the center of the dais. "Here lies Inanna, who will rise again to take her rightful place as ruler of all gods."

Spread over that in something similar to spray paint was a larger word. "Ok, well this explains a lot; it says simply, Shol'va, which basically translates into traitor, heretic, betrayer, etc. It seems she made someone mad, so they killed her and sealed the doors, probably took the keys with them, to keep anyone from placing her back in the sarcophagus."

Hammer turned back to the skeleton and began to examine it with care. Immediately seeing what he was looking for, he leaned forward and eased the strange looking glove from the hand of the now dead Inanna. "This little beauty is a hand device or in the language of this race, Kara kesh. I believe it was used to deceive followers and slaves alike into thinking the Goa'uld were Gods by emitting a wave like energy beam, throwing the intended target across the room. There were several other uses for this device if I understand some of the text I have read correctly."

He slipped off his assault pack and placed the hand device in a zippered pocket. After shouldering the pack once more he moved to the throne and began to study it. "So far this temple has followed the layout of the few temples I have been able to study. That means there should be a secret passage leading to an escape tunnel somewhere near the throne; I wonder why she didn't use it and tried to get to the sarcophagus instead?" As he was studying the throne he noticed a small keypad on the left arm of the throne. Hammer puzzled a bit over the keypad before tapping a series of three keys ending with the star shaped one in the center. A door slid open in the wall behind the throne. Jake looked up at Frank Ascott and grinned, "Shall we?" Frank ordered the other two men to stay there and keep the room secure before moving off to follow Jake into the dark tunnel.

The two men had moved about twenty feet into the tunnel when Jake's light fell across another set of bones crumpled against the back wall of the tunnel. "Well that explains why she didn't use the escape tunnel. Her assassins had sent at least one of their numbers through the back door to secure the tunnel. Inanna opened the tunnel, ran a little ways into it, saw the assassin, killed him with the hand device, and ran back out of the tunnel. She must have been trying to make it to another escape route. She was most likely trying to get to a ring transporter or something similar, when they caught and killed her."

Hammer moved closer to what was left of the assassin. "Look here, several of these bones are literally crushed, especially the back of the skull. He must have hit this wall with tremendous force." Just then he noticed the two ornate, ring like objects on either hand of the skeleton. "That may explain a thing or two. She wasn't trying to escape; she had been wounded and was trying to get into her sarcophagus to heal herself. There are the keys to the lock on the main door. So looks like only one assassin did all of this. I guess it's lucky for us that Inanna bled out before she could reach the sarcophagus." He slowly removed both items from the skeletons hands.

He slipped the "ring" from the left hand onto his hand then formed his hand into a gun like shape with his index and middle fingers extended. He pointed his fingers toward the wall and concentrated a bit. A bright yellow bolt of energy shot from the small muzzle on the palm side of the ring and blew a small chunk out of the wall. "Oops," Hammer said out loud. "My bad guys, my bad. It's cool, just trying something I didn't think would work." He said loud enough for the other members of the team to hear. "Well, that should teach me to play around with alien devices". He said with a grin as he slipped both devices into the same pocket as the other hand device. "Ok, let's see where this tunnel leads too".

He stood up and continued to follow the passageway around a bend to the right until they came up against another closed door at the end of the corridor. Jake played the light of his flashlight across the door and grunted when it illuminated the burn marks on the top, bottom, and one side of the door. "The assassin must have used something, probably that small hand laser to weld the door shut. Either he wasn't planning on coming out of the tunnel alive or they had very good intelligence that there was another way out of the tunnel." MSG Ascott wrinkled his forehead in thought. "Alright Jake, what's going on? You seem to know an awful lot about how these aliens operate how their technology works and how they lived? Something doesn't sit right with all of this." Jake knew he was going to have to come clean sometime about the Tok'ra symbiont he was carrying. He just didn't think it would come up this soon.

"I guess I should have known a battle hardened Special Forces Operator would sense something wasn't right. Ok, I'll come clean. There are actually two groups of Goa'uld. One is the cruel dictators I have described to you. The other is basically what is the Goa'uld resistance or Tok'ra officially. They are Goa'uld but have totally opposite philosophies if you will. They have worked in the shadows for thousands of years to subvert and eventually try to overthrow the Goa'uld System Lords. Jake could see that Frank Ascott was starting to get a little impatient. "Ok, here's the bottom line. Have you ever heard of the Sumerian Hero-King Gilgamesh?"

When Frank nodded that he had heard of Gilgamesh, Jake Hammer continued. "Gilgamesh was host to a Tok'ra symbiont called Bilgames whom was sent here to spy on and hopefully find a way to defeat the Canaanite God Ba'al. This failed as Ba'al proved too powerful and cagey to overthrow. He eventually defeated Gilgamesh and took the Tok'ra symbiont out of the human host and imprisoned him in a stasis jar. That jar was in the compound you rescued me and my driver from." MSG Ascott replayed the rescue and subsequent search of the compound. "I remember finding a broke clay jar in the room with the camera….." Frank Ascott froze when he realized the implications. He quickly stepped back and pointed his MP-5 at Hammer. "My God, it's inside you isn't it? Hand over the pistol now or I will shoot you."

Bilgames spoke then as Hammer's eyes flashed yellow. **"As my host has explained to you, I am no danger to you. I only want to be free of this planet and to continue my fight against the Goa'uld. I can offer you valuable knowledge and technology that your planet would take hundreds of years to discover if they discovered it at all. From the things I can see in my hosts mind, this planet needs my help."** Frank just stood there staring in total disbelief. "What's up with your voice? Why did your voice change?" Jake bent his head forward slightly and began speaking in his normal voice.

"The symbiont, whose name is Bilgames by the way, can speak through me when he wants to. When he is speaking, my voice deepens considerably and sounds like it is being amplified. But the Tok'ra are not like the Goa'uld Frank. When the Goa'uld take a host, they completely suppress the consciousness of the host and force him to do whatever the Goa'uld wants to do. The Tok'ra live in a true symbiotic relationship with their hosts, sharing the same body without suppressing the consciousness. The host and symbiont share memories and thoughts together. Please Frank, lower your weapon and trust me. If I had wanted to hurt or kill you, I could have done it already a dozen times over. Bilgames has been a part of me since before you rescued me. It was him that allowed me to heal as fast as I did and have the strength to escape from those Insurgents."

Seeing he was getting nowhere with the SF Operator, Jake decided to prove it to Frank. He moved so fast that MSG Ascott was taken completely by surprise. Jake sidestepped and moved forward in one smooth motion. Frank Ascott was disarmed and pinned to the ground faster than he had ever seen anyone taken down. He tried to fight free but Jake was too powerful. He felt the MK-23 being pressed against the base of his skull and knew he was about to die.

The next thing he knew, Jake had released him and was standing in front of him offering the pistol to him butt first. "If I wanted to kill you Frank, you couldn't stop me. Now take the pistol and trust me please. Our government has tried to kill me, you, your whole team, and they did kill Tucker. I am not your enemy and I can help you get to the bottom of this. I am going to get to the bottom of this with or without you. I would prefer to do it with you though. But it's your choice Bro….."

Frank Ascott sat up and slid himself back against the wall with his arms draped over his knees. Jake could see he was wrestling with the decision. Finally Frank stood up and brushed himself off. "Keep the pistol. God knows you don't need it to kill me. There are probably dozens of different alien devices in this temple that would work just as well if not better than a bullet. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt for now, but I'm telling my men everything." Jake nodded his head in acceptance and holstered the pistol." Ok, let's go back to where team four is and check out that room. It should be a hanger for Goa'uld ships, assuming the Ashrak (assassin) didn't destroy or take any ships that might have been left. The door behind us, should lead into it as well."

When they got back to where team three was, they gathered them up and continued down the hall to team four. Jake nodded at Frank and stepped slightly away from the group. Frank went over the story of the difference between the Goa'uld and the Tok'ra. Once he had finished, SFC Hopper looked toward Hammer. "What does that have to do with any of this Boss, unless there's something you ain't telling us?"

Jake kept his hands in plain sight and let Bilgames speak. **"Because I am Bilgames, of the Tok'ra and I now share the body of Jacob Hammer."** Every weapon in the team came to bear as one except that of MSG Ascott. "Stand down boys, that's an order. I told you the story about the difference. Besides, if he wanted to kill any of us, he could have done it at anytime he felt like it. He says there should be a hanger for ships behind that door." He pointed to the large doors.

As soon as MSG Ascott had ordered his men to stand down, they had reluctantly lowered their weapons. Boomer looked nervously at Hammer. "I still don't like it Boss, he's an alien." Ascott looked at his explosives expert. "I know Boomer, but trust me on this. If he wanted to kill us, there is nothing we could do to stop him." Boomer glanced down at his pouch of C-4. "I'm not so sure about that Boss." He said with a grin. When he looked back at Hammer, he noticed that Hammer had put on the funny looking glove he had taken off of the skeleton in the throne room. **_"_****As I said, you have nothing to fear from me. I donned the glove as a precaution since it has a personal shield device in it. None of your weapons, not even all of the C-4 you are carrying, can penetrate it."** With that, he walked past the SF team and opened the doors to the hanger.

Inside the hanger were several funny shaped ships that reminded MSG Ascott of the Droid Fighters on Revenge of the Sith. There was also a cone shaped ship that looked like a Hermit Crab. Hammer walked around each ship, inspecting it carefully. **_"_****I can't detect any outward signs of tampering but it could be hidden. I will need a hand scanner or a security console to know for sure. The ships with the folded wings are called Death Gliders. They are capable of flying in atmospheres and space. They are not capable of interstellar travel though. The other ship is a Goa'uld cargo ship also called a Tel'tak. It is capable of entering hyperspace for interstellar travel."**

He moved over to the side of the hanger to a door. He attempted to open it but found it was indeed the door at the end of the escape tunnel. **_"_****MSG Ascott, this is the door that was welded shut as I suspected it would be. It was supposed to provide Inanna with an easy escape route to her ship."** He moved to a console beside the door. He carefully studied the console for damage or tampering. Seeing none of either, he activated the controls. **_"_****As I suspected, the Ashrak placed traps on the remaining ships. It won't take long for me to disarm them."**

Boomer had been looking over the ships himself and whistling softly in wonder. "I don't see anything Boss, where are you seeing the traps?" Hammer motioned for him to come over to the console. **_"_****The reactor on each ship has been tampered with so that on start up, they will explode."** He indicated the affected area of each ship on the read outs of the maintenance console. **_"_****It is a simple matter to reprogram the main computer to return them to their normal operational mode. We will need the Tel'tak to assist in getting to the bottom of why they tried to kill us."** He then entered each ship with MSG Ascott and Boomer both looking over his shoulder.

Within minutes he had reset all of the reactors to normal operating mode. **_"_****I am done. I need to leave to see what the state of affairs in the galaxy is. You are welcome to accompany me or you may stay here. As I said earlier Frank, it's your choice."** Frank thought for a minute then turned to Boomer. "Come on Boomer; let's see what he is talking about. The rest of you head back to the cave and get some rest. We'll contact you when we get back." He turned back to Hammer and said. "How are we supposed to get this thing out of here? It looks like several thousand years of sand storms have buried the complex."

Hammer was seated in the pilots chair looking over the readings on the console. **_"_****This hanger has always been buried according to these readings. I just need to flip this switch to open the hidden bay doors."**He studied the sensor readings a bit longer to make sure the area around was clear. **_"_****I will also cloak the ship so your military radar cannot see us launching."** With that he opened the hanger bay doors and eased the cloaked cargo ship out into the Iraqi night.

Jake slowly orbited the planet with the cargo ships scanners set to maximum. Frank and Boomer both watched him closely. "What are you looking for?" Frank asked. **"I am looking for hidden signs of advanced technology and trying to locate the Chappa'ai or Stargate in your language."**

After several minutes of scanning from orbit, Hammer zeroed in on some readings that had caught his attention.**_"_****It appears your government has found the Stargate and has it in a hidden base under a mountain on Ft. Carson. The sensors can barely pick it up but none the less, there it is. It doesn't appear to be operational from these readings. I would have to monitor it continuously to be certain though. I will run one scan of the entire planet then we can return to your men****_."_** He set the scanners to record and made several low level passes around the Earth. **_"_****I will land outside of the cave entrance and keep the ship cloaked instead of trying to return to the hanger****_."_**

As they eased in for a landing, Hammer worked programming a security code into the main console. **_"_****Not that I don't trust you Frank, but as long as the government has control of the Stargate, whether they are using it or not, this ship is my only means off of this planet. I need to be able to travel freely to gather allies and technology if we are to find out the truth about the attempts on our lives. I can also offer you another alternative. I can take you, your men, and all of your equipment to another planet where we can work in peace and put together a better plan in safety****_."_**__

MSG Ascott sat pondering that last offer. "Well, we are technically considered dead now, so we would have a measure of freedom to work on another planet." He suddenly realized he had just calmly discussed going to another planet like it was flying to another continent. "Ok, that was weird, I never thought I would ever hear myself discussing going to another planet in anything but a dream." Hammer chuckled. "I would have never thought I would be host to an alien symbiont or seriously discussing going to another planet. But with Bilgames memories, I feel as if I have traveled to hundreds of worlds already." Hammer lowered his head slightly and Frank realized Bilgames was about to speak. **_"_****I will understand completely if you or any of your men decide not to travel with me. I will not hold it against you. But I must leave soon to scout for a base of operations and see what the Goa'uld have been doing over the last several thousand years****_."_**

Just then Q stepped through the door. "If you're looking for volunteers Boss, count me in." He said with a wide grin. "I was a little spooked by what Hammer is now, still am spooked, I won't lie about it. But the prospect of traveling in a space ship to another planet really intrigues me." MSG Ascott looked toward Hammer. "I don't doubt that the entire team will want to go, especially if it gives us a leg up on finding out why they tried to kill us." Hammer nodded his head in understanding. **_"_****It would be better to only take about half at once. This is a relatively small ship and all 12 of you plus me would over tax the life support if we had to search for an extended time period. It may take several weeks to find a suitable planet to establish a base on. You must remember, I have been in a stasis jar for the last 4,500 years. I have no way of knowing the extent of the Goa'uld domain until I can get caught up on current events****_."_**

Frank thought that over for a minute before turning to Q. "Go grab Boomer and whatever gear and equipment you two want to take. Also grab several cases of MRE's and four of the five gallon water jugs." Q looked like a kid in a candy store and ran off to gather Boomer and the supplies MSG Ascott had told him to get. Within fifteen minutes both Special Forces Operators had loaded the requested food and water along with extra ammo and two of the staff weapons from the fallen Jaffa. Q also had in his hand two small snake head looking hand weapons. **_"_****Those are what are called Zat'nik'tel. They are less powerful than the Staff Weapons but still deadly. One shot will stun most any target, a second shot will kill most any target, and a third shot will totally vaporize the target.****_"_** Q whistled then tucked one of the "zats" (as he thought of them) into his belt. Hammer smiled and shook his head as he piloted the cloaked cargo ship out into space. He used the moon to shield the ship from any observation from the Earth as he decloaked and jumped the ship into hyperspace.

Boomer was extremely fascinated by the concept of hyperspace and was staring out the window watching the patterns of it. "So this is what traveling at warp speed really looks like?" Hammer chuckled before answering as Bilgames. **_"_****Actually we are just traveling through hyperspace. I can see in my hosts mind the reference you are making to the speed tables in Star Trek. Our method of travel is much faster than any warp speed used. Hyperspace more closely resembles going though the wormhole in the spin-off Deep Space 9. Granted Goa'uld hyperdrive engines are not nearly as efficient as the Asgard, they are still many times faster than warp speed****_."_** Boomer looked at Hammer. "You know it's still very weird hearing your voice change when the little guy is talking." Hammer knew exactly what he meant. "I still find it very weird myself trust me. It will take awhile to get used to. _No offense intended."_He thought to the symbiont inside him. Hammer can sense the chuckle from Bilgames as the symbiont replies. _**"No offense taken my friend, I'm the one that has to stare at your insides."**_

The rest of the journey is spent in silence at least for the ones not carrying a symbiont. Bilgames kept up a running dialog with Jake to explain what he was looking for and to prepare him for whatever they may find at their destination. Boomer had been sitting in the chair next to Jake and had dozed off but was instantly awake at the sound of his name being called. "Boomer, would you please wake MSG Ascott and ask him to join me? We are almost to our first destination." Boomer slipped out of the chair to do as he was asked.

Less than a minute later, Frank Ascott was seated in the co-pilots chair. "So what should we expect?" Bilgames took over to answer that question. **"We are approaching the last place I remember the main Tok'ra base to be. I doubt anyone will still be there after so long, but I need to have a solid starting place. I can also see if they moved on willingly, as the Tok'ra never stay in one place for very long, or if they were forced out against their will. The reason they never stay long in one place is basically the same reason as you SF types move often."**Frank nodded in understanding. "If you stay too long, your enemy can find you easier and take you out." Bilgames nodded in agreement.

"**The Tok'ra are small in number and have to fight a gorilla style war of attrition and subterfuge. As a Tok'ra myself, I should return to them and help carry on the war against the Goa'uld. But I believe I can do more good by using my knowledge to help your world. I see great potential for the human race. SFC Hammer has some pretty interesting ideas on how to make your world better and stronger than it has been since the Ancients ruled there. I am not sure what we will find here so I will cloak the ship the instant we drop out of hyperspace. If we find nothing here, I will proceed to the next world the Tok'ra would have moved too. I know the coordinates for the next five planned locations but that is all. Hopefully we will either find the Tok'ra or an indication of where to look."**

Frank looked hard at Jake. **"Do not worry, as I said, I am not staying with them. But they are the best way to find out the current state of affairs in the Galaxy. I could just scan known Goa'uld bases while cloaked but the Tok'ra have or at least used to have a vast intelligence network."**

Bilgames dropped the ship out of hyperspace, cloaked, and immediately changed course just in case there was a hostile presence in the system. After a thorough scan of the entire star system, he found nothing at all except the stargate on an empty planet. **"They have moved on and there are no signs of weapons fire or any residual energy signatures from any type of an attack. They moved on without incident."**The next two systems were the same but on the fourth system there were readings showing there had been a massive bombardment from space. Bilgames scanned the system for any possible hidden weapons or remaining enemy but found neither. He pulled up the readings he had taken of the signs of attack and studied them for a little while.

"**These readings are fairly old, at least 500 to 750 years ago. The actual energy residue left from the weapons fire has dissipated. I am just reading the crystallized sand from the heat of the blasts. Well, one more system that I know of. Hopefully we will find something there. If the Tok'ra are not there or have not left a marker to point the way forward, we will have to proceed on our own."**With those words he jumped back into hyperspace.

A few hours later he repeated his actions on the previous four planets. This time it saved his life and the lives of the men with him. The instant he changed course after cloaking, a Goa'uld Ha'tak (mothership) fired on his previous location and saturated the area around where he had left hyperspace. **"That was close and a sign we are close to our goal."**Hammer whistled softly as he studied the Mothership on his scanners. **"It looks like the Goa'uld have upgraded their Ha'taks while I've been in stasis. I've never seen one like that."**He switched the comsystem to an encrypted Tok'ra frequency and began transmitting. **"This is Bilgames of the Tok'ra. I have returned to assist in any way I can**. **I have been trapped in a stasis jar for several thousand years."**

He waited for some type of response. After a few tense minutes he heard what he was waiting for. **"Welcome back Bilgames, this is Garshaw, it seems you arrived at a most opportune moment. We could use some help with the evacuation."**MSG Ascott just stared in confusion at Hammer. "You're not going to fight back? You're just going to run and hide?" Hammer/Bilgames just shrugged. **"As I explained earlier, we are small in number and do not have the firepower to take on a Goa'uld Ha'tak much less three of them."**Frank turned and pointed out the window at small fighters leaving one of the Ha'taks. "What about those?" A glow came to Hammers face.

"**Garshaw, I have an idea that could take some pressure off of you on the ground and give you more time to evacuate. If you can have at least three or four good pilots get to the rings, I will ring them up and then to one of the Ha'tak with me. We would also need someone to stay with the cargo ship to help with the evacuation."**After a few seconds of static, a confused reply came through the speakers. **"I'm not sure what you are planning and am not sure if I want to know. You have always been a bit reckless Bilgames."**

MSG Ascott looked over at Hammer with a curious look in his eye. Hammer just shrugged. **"What can I say? I have never been one that could leave well enough alone. I always have to push my limits. Garshaw, I have three Elite Soldiers from the Tau'ri on the ship with me. We can ring to one of the Ha'tak and steal three Gliders to use to attack the Ha'tak as a distraction to give you more time to evacuate. I know it's risky but you cannot deny the value of a few extra minutes."** After a few seconds pause Garshaw responded. **"You are right this time Bilgames, three of our best pilots are waiting to ring to your ship."**Bilgames piloted the cargo ship closer to the planet. **"MSG Ascott, you do not have to come along on my planned assault. But know that if you do come along, it will increase our odds of success by 90%."**

As he moved the cargo ship into position just a few feet off the planet MSG Ascott gave him his answer. "Are you kidding? After just being described as "Elite Soldiers, how good we refuse?" Both of his men grinned as they nodded their heads in agreement. **"Good, make sure all the weapons you decide to bring with you are loaded with Teflon coated or steel core projectiles. The Jaffa on the ship will be wearing body armor and nothing else will penetrate it. If they are wearing the helmet as well even head shots without armor penetrating bullets will not be effective."** All three Special Forces Operators did an ammo check and attached sound suppressors to their weapons. MSG Ascott handed a suppressor to Hammer for his MK-23 as well. **"Thank you, hopefully I won't need it as I will carry the other Zat that Q didn't take."**

Once the three Tok'ra pilots had ringed aboard, Hammer cloaked the ship, moved into position to ring aboard one of the Ha'taks, and relinquished the pilots chair to one of the other Tok'ra. **"Good, you brought some stun grenades. Also, I've been kind of out of the loop for awhile and those are a design I have never seen."** He had noticed the sack two of the Tok'ra pilots wore at their waist. One of the pilots looked toward him. **"The central pyramid is very close to the same layout as the Cheops class that Ra and Heru'ur use."**Bilgames nodded in understanding as he went over his plan in his head.

**"My plan is to ring aboard the Ha'tak, steal three Death Gliders or Al'kesh if they are still in the bay, and attack the Ha'taks long enough to draw their attention away from the evacuation. If there are Al'kesh still on board, hopefully we can destroy one or two of the Ha'taks."** Hammer then moved to the circle in the cargo bay where the ring platform was located before crouching low. **"MSG Ascott and Boomer, shoot low at the area just above where a human's navel is. It is the quickest way to kill a Jaffa. Q, if you use the Zat, just hit the trigger twice, fast."** With each of the six forming a circle with weapons pointed outward, Bilgames nodded to the pilot still on the ship.

The instant the ring platform deposited them onto the Ha'tak; all 6 men fired their weapons, killing several Jaffa guarding the ring room. Bilgames signaled the two Tok'ra to move out before turning to Frank and his team. **"Follow us; the hanger deck should be just below us."** The small group worked their way down to the deck below them, killing and disintegrating several more Jaffa on the way. At the door to the hanger, Hammer smiled as he peered in. **"Just as I was hoping when I chose the ship farthest from the planet. This ship was held in reserve in case the other two need back-up. All the Al'kesh and Gliders are still in their bay."**

He nodded to the other two Tok'ra. Both pulled a small round ball roughly the size of a large grapefruit from the pouch at their waists. One of them pulled a 2nd ball from his pouch and handed it to Bilgames. They all three pressed a button on the ball and rolled them into the hanger bay. **"Cover!"**Hammer ordered as a bright white light and high pitched screech filled the bay. **"Goa'uld stun grenade. It's what was used to capture myself and PFC Tucker in Baghdad."** He said in way of explanation to MSG Ascott and his team. With that he stood and sprinted into the hanger bay.

Jake Hammer paused as soon as everyone was inside the bay and turned to shoot the panel next to the door. **"That will buy us enough time to power up the ships and get out of here."** He pointed to two separate Al'kesh as he passed them. **"Frank, assign Q and Boomer each an Al'kesh to help secure, you're with me on the lead one."**MSG Ascott pointed to each of the two Tok'ra pilots, assigning his men one each. Hammer ran to the Al'kesh closest to the hanger bay doors. **"We'll have to blast through the bay doors; I doubt any of us will have the override codes to open them manually."**As each team neared their perspective Al'kesh, each Tok'ra armed another stun grenade and rolled it into the ship.

Each team found the same thing once they boarded the Al'kesh; dozens of unconscious Jaffa sprawled throughout the ship. Hammer handed the Zat to MSG Ascott. **"Go through the ship and shoot each Jaffa three times. I know this isn't what we would normally do, but we do not have the time to carry each one off of the ship. People are dying on that planet and we're the only hope they have of surviving."** Frank took the weapon but baulked at what he had just been asked to do. **"Look, I would do it myself but I have to fly the ship and that means preflight checks that you don't know how to do. I'm sorry Frank, it's them or us and I can guarantee they wouldn't hesitate to do it to either of us or any of your men."**Frank stood his ground. "No, I won't murder defenseless men even though they would not show me the same consideration. I will disarm all of them and lock them into a room until we are done with the rescue. He stalked off to do just that after radioing his men and telling them to do the same thing.

Hammer sighed but knew he would not convince the MSG to do otherwise. **"Wait, Frank. I'm sorry if this makes you uncomfortable and since I see your mind is made up, once all of them are moved to the cargo bay, hit this series of symbols on the panel just outside the door to the room. That should lock out the rings, lock the door, and disable the keypad on the inside so they can't use it to override your lock command."**Frank relayed the lockout code to his men and left to do his part of the mission.

Bilgames finished prepping the ship for launch then signaled the other two Al'kesh to follow him out and stay in a standard arrow formation. He powered up the staff cannon turret and blasted the hanger doors open.

Once all three of the mid range bombers had cleared the hanger, they fell into formation as Bilgames had instructed. As they looped around to begin their attack run on the Ha'tak they had just left, Bilgames explained his plan to the other two pilots. **"Keep in this formation as we begin the attack. Use the plasma bombs in the pass and then fire behind you, then split left and right after the pass. The bombs should collapse the shield allowing the turret cannon to do massive damage to an unshielded ship. Splitting left and right while I peel up and roll should keep retaliatory fire to a minimum and allow for damage to three different areas of the ship. When I finish my roll, I will be in position to make another bombing run and take it out completely."**

As the small formation of Al'kesh approached the Ha'tak, the larger ship opened fire with its own cannon emplacements. Hammer reached over and keyed the intra ship communications. **"I would suggest you find something solid to hold on to Frank. It's about to get a little bumpy."** The ship rocked with multiple explosions around it. Frank staggered into the control room. "Yeah, I think that's a good idea. What's going on?" Bilgames fought to keep the bomber on course. **"We are making our first approach and our prey isn't taking the attack very kindly. I think they've figured out we aren't their friends. Hold on tight after we make the pass. I am going to peel straight up and roll back over the top of the Ha'tak. They will have a clear shot as we start the roll but we have no choice if we want to avoid crashing into one of the other ships."**Frank looked around at the chair he was clinging too. "What, don't you people believe in seat belts?" That struck Hammer as funny and he cracked up. **"I will make a note to complain to the designer if we make it through this in one piece."**

They reached their target point and each Al'kesh bomber released three heavy plasma charges onto the Ha'tak. As Bilgames was in front of the other two Al'kesh, his bombs struck first. They flared the shields brightly but did not collapse them. They did however weaken the shields enough that when the second Al'kesh's charges struck, they completely overloaded the shields and collapsed them. The third Al'kesh's charges had been dropped just a couple of seconds after the other so they struck an unshielded hull causing considerable damage.

Bilgames had cleared the Ha'tak and was beginning his roll when a stray cannon shot penetrated the shields. The ship bucked wildly and started to spiral out of control. Hammer fought the yoke with all of his might and virtually willed the Al'kesh to come back under control and finish the rolling loop. **"That last shot penetrated the shields and ruptured the hull. We're venting atmosphere from the cargo hold. I'm trying to stabilize it and reroute power to the containment shields. It's working but I think we lost everyone and everything that was in the cargo hold."**He finally fought the ship back under control and finished the looping roll he had started.

As he came back level on an approach run, he lined up his target and released the plasma bombs again. He also continued to fire the cannon turret into the Ha'tak. The larger ship shook like a wounded beast and went dark. As the Ha'tak went dark it started listing heavily and drifting closer to the sun. Both of the other Al'kesh had finished their turns and each fired more cannon shots into the dying Ha'tak. As the last few bolts of energy struck the unshielded Ha'tak, it exploded in a great fireball leaving nothing but debris in its place. **"Form up and let's see if we can take out another one. I took a hit on the last one so I'm not sure I can pull off the same maneuver. I will break right this time and follow around in your wake Boomer."**

The second run went off like clockwork and a second Ha'tak exploded in a fireball. The problems with the second run didn't appear until the third Ha'tak turned and fled into Hyperspace. Gliders and the Al'kesh from the two ships attacking the planet began to make their return from the planet. Bilgames looked up at the approaching ships. "**I was afraid of this but we were only trying to give the Tok'ra on the ground some relief, prepare to defend yourselves. Stay close to each other and provide covering fire for one another. Target the Al'kesh first. Team up and pick your targets. Coordinate your fire so you overload their shields by doubling your firepower. I'll try to hold off the Gliders. Maybe we can still pull this off."** With those orders given, the other two Al'kesh peeled away and opened fire on the enemy Al'kesh. Two ships firing as one, made short work of a single ship.

Meanwhile, Hammer charged into the swarm of Gliders with his cannon blazing. Several Gliders took direct hits and exploded, while the rest staggered and scattered in all directions to avoid the deadly cannon fire. Within minutes all but two of the returning Al'kesh were destroyed. The remaining two, seeing they were out matched by a strategy they had never encountered from the Tok'ra, jumped into hyperspace and fled.

Once the Al'kesh were all gone, the two Tok'ra flown Al'kesh returned to help Hammer finish off the last of the Gliders. The remaining Gliders were doing everything they could to escape. They had completely given up trying to attack as they were totally overwhelmed by the tactics of an Al'kesh charging into a swarm of Gliders. Normally the Al'kesh would try to run from them while firing behind it to shake the chasing Gliders. Never had an Al'kesh CHASED them. With the three Al'kesh in pursuit, the few remaining Gliders were caught and destroyed easily. Although a few did manage to land close to the Stargate where the Jaffa flying them were captured or killed by the Tok'ra on the ground.

Hammer eased the damaged Al'kesh into a landing near the gate as well and went to check on his prisoners. The other two Al'kesh landed in formation with him. The captured Jaffa on Hammer's vessel were all dead. They had been killed by the decompression of the cargo hold when the Ha'tak cannon fire breached the hull. The other two groups of prisoners were escorted at gun point to the gate. One of the Tok'ra pilots asked Hammer what they should do with the captive Jaffa. **"Well, if it were my call, I would say strip them of their armor and let them carry their dead and wounded home. An entire Ha'tak and two Al'kesh have already escaped with knowledge of our coordinates."**

A voice behind them caused all to turn. Garshaw had emerged from the Tok'ra tunnels when the last of the Jaffa were captured or killed. **"That is surprising to hear you say Bilgames. Normally you would have said to execute all that lived?"**Hammer smiled toward her. **"I have come to realize there are more ways than one to deal with an enemy. This new host and over four thousand years of imprisonment, have given me a different perspective on life and how things are."**

Garshaw nodded to one of the Tok'ra guarding the Jaffa. He did as Bilgames suggested and stripped them all of their armor and allowed them to carry their dead and wounded through the gate. Before the final Jaffa was through the gate Bilgames looked toward Garshaw. **"I would be standing by the dialing device and dial the evacuation site the instant the gate closes on this end, just as a precaution."**Again, Garshaw nodded that Bilgames advise should be followed. **"You must tell us where you have been these last few millennia."**

Hammer let out a long sigh. **"To make a long story short, I lost the battle with Ba'al, was captured, and imprisoned in a stasis jar on the Tau'ri planet. I know you warned me a direct confrontation was ill advised and to continue to work from the shadows. I still feel forcing Ba'al into a battle was the right thing to do. The rest will hold for another time. We need to finish the evacuation and then you must fill me in on what has transpired during my absence."**

With the three Al'kesh and the cargo ship to assist, the planet was completely empty in less than an hour. Bilgames loaded the gliders the Jaffa had left on the planet into the cargo bay of the Al'kesh after winning an argument with Garshaw over them. Garshaw had at first ordered them destroyed but Bilgames argued that they were more valuable left intact and taken with them.

There were seven gliders still intact but the Al'kesh could only hold two maximum after the wings were folded. So Bilgames left a nasty surprise by rigging the last with a time delay naquadah bomb deep inside the glider so it would not be found until it went off. After losing two Ha'tak and several Al'kesh, Bilgames knew the System Lords would return in force to wipe out the Tok'ra. He also rigged another bomb but placed it in the pilot's seat. This one he purposely rigged with a faulty timer so it would not detonate but would look like the Tok'ra had tried to destroy it and failed.

Garshaw just shook her head in amazement at Bilgames. **"You really are devious. I might have thought to hide a bomb as you did the first one, but to openly plant a second one?"**Bilgames smiled at her.

**"As I said, this new host has given me a different outlook on everything. He was a Soldier of the Tau'ri for nearly 30 years so his insight into tactics and knowledge of warfare have given me some very inspirational ideas shall we say? For instance, the System Lords know we would normally destroy anything we deemed not useful to our cause. Now that we have taken six Death Gliders and left a bomb in the seat of the seventh, they will be confused. They will be asking themselves why we would take the gliders since they are not capable of cloaking or interstellar travel. Are we going to use them to defend our next home or was it for something else? They will be second guessing what they know of our tactics and trying to decide how to deal with us in the future. A good secondary result will be if they take the last glider on board one of the command Ha'taks with at least Cronus or maybe more of the System Lords aboard. The bomb will detonate in less than 5 minutes once the wings are folded for storage. It is attached to the reactor and the secondary explosion of the reactor itself will be enough to take out the Ha'tak's reactor and anything unshielded within 500 to 1000 kilometers."**

Bilgames looked over to Garshaw who was sitting in the co-pilot's chair next to him on the Al'kesh. She had a troubled look on her face and seemed as if she were a million miles away. Bilgames paused and thought for a minute. **"You have operatives in Cronus' forces don't you old friend? I am sorry and I will grieve for them if they are caught in the blast. But they knew what they were signing up for when they accepted the mission. I'm also sorry you do not approve of my methods of direct confrontation with the Goa'uld, I still believe the only way to ever truly defeat them is direct conflict."**

Garshaw remained quiet for a bit longer and Bilgames could see she was trying to figure out how to word her reply. **"You are going to go against our policies and defy the counsel again Bilgames. Why will you not see that our methods are better?"**Bilgames/Hammer sighed deeply. **"Garshaw, the Tok'ra have been fighting a war of attrition for centuries against the Goa'uld. It has shown little results other than hundreds of Tok'ra being slaughtered and the Goa'uld growing even stronger. The Goa'uld have queens that can replenish their numbers while we have lost Egeria and our numbers shrink with each passing year."** Garshaw looked at her old adversary in total shock. Bilgames couldn't help but laugh.

"**Relax old friend, you know I always question everything. I talked to one of the pilots at length while we were dealing with the captured Jaffa and sending them through the gate. He filled me in on most of the major events for the last several thousand years. I think I know who might have killed Ra also."**Again Garshaw could only stare at him in utter shock.

"**The Tau'ri have a Stargate in one of their most secret and secure military facilities. I don't think it's active and I am not sure why. When I scanned the complex from orbit, there were only six life signs in close proximity to the Gate. I learned from my new hosts mind that something that important would have many more people in the complex if it were active. Once we have finished assisting you with your evacuation, I plan on taking one of the Al'kesh back to Earth to find out why it is not in use. Earth is the name of the Tau'ri homeworld. The Tau'ri have made remarkable progress in the last few thousand years. There are nearly seven billion of them crammed on that one little planet. They have limited space flight, small unmanned probes, satellites, orbital shuttles, things of that nature. They have discovered nuclear fission, internal combustion engines, limited power lasers, and I believe from the description of the destruction of Ra's ship, it may have been one of the Tau'ri nuclear devices that did it. Again, another reason I must return to learn for sure. The men that came with me from the Tau'ri are Soldiers of the nation state that has the Stargate. My new host also has the highest concentration of Ancient DNA I have ever heard of and not BE an Ancient."**

Garshaw again could only stare in amazement at Bilgames as he continued. **"I have been trying to access some of the subconscious memories embedded in the DNA of my host but so far I have only succeeded in vague images and distant memories that make no sense. Hopefully I will at least be able to locate a gate address or two where I can begin my search."**

They flew on through hyperspace in contemplative silence for the rest of the journey. They had abandoned the next base they had gone too after the attack and moved to a more distant and isolated world.

While Hammer and his passengers were still in hyperspace several Goa'uld Ha'taks emerged from hyperspace above the abandoned Tok'ra base and immediately opened fire on the previous coordinates of the now erased Tok'ra tunnel system. As Bilgames had hoped, Cronus was on board the lead Ha'tak. The First Prime of Cronus turned toward his God. "As the released Jaffa stated, I am picking up a single Death Glider near the Chappa'ai even though we were told there were seven." Cronus spun in rage to a Jaffa standing to his right. **"First you defy your God by allowing the pitiful Tok'ra to capture you then you lie about it? You deserve the death of a Shol'va!"**

With that Cronus plunged his hand into the symbiont pouch of his victim, grabbed the symbiont that resided within, and crushed it. The Jaffa screamed in pain and fell to the floor to writhe in agony for several minutes before the mingled blood of the symbiont and his own killed him. Cronus watched in pleasure as the Shol'va died in a very painful manner. He then turned to his First Prime. **"Golnak, send a Jaffa down to retrieve the remaining Glider. We will not leave such things to waste. The Tok'ra think 6 tiny Death Gliders can oppose my flagship? They are sadly mistaken."**Golnak bowed his head and crossed his right arm across his chest, his fist touching his left shoulder. "Yes My Lord, I will retrieve it personally."

Ten minutes later Golnak sent a message that the Tok'ra had tried to destroy the glider by placing a bomb in the pilot's seat but the timer had malfunctioned and had not gone off. He removed and discarded the bomb before flying the Death Glider back to his God's ship. He was just returning to the Pel'tak (bridge) when the hidden bomb on the Glider's reactor detonated. The resulting blast destroyed the flagship, killing Cronus and everything within 100 kilometers. Two Ha'taks out of the five that had joined Cronus in the counterattack escaped the destruction because the planet was between them and the blast.

After landing the Al'kesh and completing repairs on it, Bilgames stripped the cloaking generator from the cargo ship and managed to retrofit it into the Al'kesh. As Bilgames and the three Special Forces operators were preparing to return to Earth, Garshaw approached them. **"Bilgames, may I speak with you in private please?"**Bilgames looked toward MSG Ascott, smiled, and rose to join the Tok'ra council leader outside. Frank Ascott had been in the Special Forces for many years and had learned to rely on his instincts. And his instincts were telling him he needed to follow Hammer to the hatch and eavesdrop on the conversation. And again his instincts served him well. For the instant Hammer stepped through the hatch, several armed Tok'ra confronted him with weapons leveled.

Bilgames face instantly went from passive to a flush red of rage.**"So, it's come to this has it? We have lowered ourselves to the level of the Goa'uld by pointing weapons at our own?"**Garshaw looked at him in utter defiance. **"I am sorry it has to be this way, but we cannot allow you to leave with the knowledge of our base or with an Al'kesh. It is simply not an option."**The Infantry Sergeant in Hammer came to the surface. **"You mean you can't allow me to leave because it doesn't fit into the petty plans of the Tok'ra Council."**

Bilgames just sighed in disgust and dove back into the hatch of the Al'kesh. At the same time MSG Ascott threw one of the stun grenades out of the hatch and slammed his fist onto the panel to close the door. Before he had left the Pel'tak of the Al'kesh, he had told Q that if he signaled, to be ready to raise the shields as fast as he could. He had watched Hammer intently as he worked the controls of the ship during the battle earlier. So the instant the stun grenade cleared the door and before the hatch slammed shut, the shields powered up to protect the ship from the staff blasts that the Tok'ra, not knocked out by the stun grenade, began firing at it. Hammer rolled through the airlock and looked toward MSG Ascott in genuine surprise. "How did you know that was going to happen?"

Frank just chuckled as they headed to the Pel'tak. "You don't survive as an Operator through as many missions as I've had without learning to listen to your gut." Jake Hammer settled himself in the pilots chair and lifted the Al'kesh from the planet. "Let's get out of here before they can get the other Al'kesh fired up to chase us. They will be a bit taken off guard that we didn't just meekly give in to their demands." Once they were clear of the atmosphere, Hammer opened a hyperspace window and jumped to hyperspace.

Once they were safely on course for Earth, Jacob Hammer started fuming over what had just happened. "I can't believe they just shot at us. Something like this has never happened among the Tok'ra. Something must have really changed over the last several thousand years." Just then the comsystem started beeping. Jake almost ignored it because he suspected it would be Garshaw trying to convince him to come back. Finally he gave in and answered the hail. To his surprise it wasn't Garshaw at all but one of the younger members of the Tok'ra Council he remembered as Martouf host to Lantash.

**"I want to apologize for Garshaw and the rest of the Council. You have to understand that we are getting desperate because as you pointed out; our numbers are not growing as the Goa'uld. What triggered the sudden change in attitude was receiving word that your trap worked and Cronus was killed along with three of his Ha'taks. That makes two System Lords killed in as many years by someone other than another System Lord. It has thrown the remaining System Lords into chaos causing them to step up attempts to solidify their positions by wiping out as many of their opposition as possible. So the fact that you have returned, changed, and you have new ideas, has them on the defensive. They have not changed their way of thinking since we began our rebellion many thousands of years ago. I understand your need to find out what has happened and that you do not like to operate under the constraints of the Council though and wish you luck. Just know that some on the Council are of a like mind with you."**

With that he closed the channel allowing silence to fall over the small bridge of the Al'kesh. Hammer sat quietly thinking about his next move. He had a better ship than when he left Earth and he had a good idea of what was going on with the System Lords now. He was still puzzled over the attempt by Garshaw to force him to stay against his will. MSG Ascott broke his train of thought with the same question he was thinking to himself. "So Boss, what's our next move?" The question struck Jake as extremely funny considering Frank out ranked him and that less than a week ago the whole team had been ready to shoot him.

After he settled down so he could breathe again, he responded. "Sorry, that just struck me as funny after you and your teams original reaction to the fact I am sharing this body with an alien symbiont, plus the fact that you out rank me. Well, first off, I thought I'd return to Earth and see if I could get access to someone that might know something about the operation under Cheyenne Mountain. I would also like to go to Abydos and see if I can find out exactly what happened to Ra."


	2. Chapter 2

**Ok, here is installment two of this series. Sorry it took so long to get out, but with being Active Duty in the US Army and being stationed overseas, I have been a little bit busy. I am also working on a new idea for a limited crossover of Star Trek/Stargate. I know there have been tons of those already but I'm thinking of making this one a little bit different. It will be more of an AU crossover instead of a direct crossover and will definitely throw the Prime Directive out the window….lol.**

**The Shape of Destiny Part II**

**Stargate Command Gate Room**

Medical personnel were collecting the bodies of the five Airmen that were killed in the attack that also resulted in the capture of another Airman. General George Hammond was standing in the middle of the gate room looking down on one of the aliens that had come through his gate and killed his men. "Well, there goes my easy retirement. Send a team to bring in Colonel O'Neill and the rest of his team. Maybe they will have the answers I need…"

**Orbit the Dark side of the Moon**

Jake Hammer had set a course for the dark side of the moon so he would be hidden from Earth as the Al'kesh he was flying exited hyperspace. He immediately cloaked the bomber and continued on to Earth. As he entered the atmosphere above Iraq he began running some surface scans. What he picked up disturbed him greatly. "Frank, wake everyone up and get them ready to fight. The cave is under siege and there are a couple of F-22's vectoring in with weapons hot."

Frank jumped up and ran toward the cargo hold to wake up the other two members of his team. He felt the ship turn sharply and almost lost his balance but caught himself before falling. He turned and ran back to the Pel'tak (bridge). "What the hell was that?" He asked as he grabbed the back of the co-pilot's chair.

He looked out the forward view port in time to see two sets of staff cannon blast blow the first F-22 out of the sky. A couple of seconds later the second F-22 met the same fate. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?" He screamed as he looked over at Jake. But it was Bilgames that answered. **"Would you rather I let them bring down the mountain side on your men with their JDAMS?"**With that he leveled out as he passed over the lines of the Soldiers surrounding the cave and released a pair of plasma bombs. The bombs were targeted to hit close enough to scare and disorient the Soldiers without killing them. He cloaked the Al'kesh immediately after and landed on the inside of the perimeter close to the path he had just created with the bombs.

Jake stood up and turned toward Frank. **"Wait at the outer hatch of the ship. I will retrieve your men from the cave." **Frank glared at the Tok'ra before replying. "No way in hell will I let you out of my sight. They are my men, not yours." Jake just nodded his head. **"Very well, but keep up or I will leave you behind."** Frank looked toward Jake with an evil grin. "Give it your best shot snake boy."

Jake left the Al'kesh at a full sprint with Frank Ascott hard on his heels. When the operators guarding the cave entrance saw their Leader running toward them behind the Tok'ra, they moved out to cover them. "Sitrep." Was all Frank said to the man that approached him. "Six wounded and one dead. They got the FNG Green while he was on watch above the cave entrance." Ascott punched his hand and cursed. "Damn it, we didn't even get the chance to give the kid a SF nickname yet. Collect the wounded and Green's body and board the Al'kesh. We have to move now."

Jake had carried something with him that was round and about the size of a basketball. He looked toward Frank as he passed him. **"If there is anything here that you can't live without or can't be replaced easily, I suggest you get it now. In a few moments, nothing will be left of this mountain or the hidden Goa'uld base." **

Frank ran back inside the Al'kesh and gathered every able body. Within two minutes of landing, Jake had set the bomb for remote detonation and Frank and his men had collected anything they deemed of useful value. Jake boarded the Al'kesh and lifted off before decloaking and activating the com system. **"You have 60 seconds to vacate this area and reach a safe distance. I have placed a powerful explosive device in the cave and will detonate it when the 60 seconds have passed."**

The commander of the Infantry company surrounded the cave gave the immediate order to retreat. Men scrambled to get to their MRAP's quicker than they ever had. 60 seconds later, the company was nearly 1000 meters away from their former positions. Jake activated the cloak then pressed the button on the small device, sending the signal to detonate the bomb. There was a massive surge of Earth as the entire mountain lifted into the air before collapsing back in on itself, leaving a VERY large crater in its place.

Jake took the bomber up towards space and established a stable orbit before heading to the cargo hold to check on the wounded. Before he got to the cargo hold, he stopped by a small room that held a small container of medical supplies. He chose a Goa'uld healing device before finishing his trip to the cargo hold. The team medic had already removed the few bullets and shrapnel that the wounded had been hit with during the short siege of the cave.

Frank was getting the rest of the story that the sitrep had not given him. He looked over to see Jake leaning over one of his more critically wounded men with some strange looking device on his hand. "What do you think you're doing?"

Jake sighed and stood back up. "I'm healing him and will heal the rest once I am done with him." Jake then held up the device for Frank to see. "This is a Goa'uld healing device. It is not as powerful as the sarcophagus but is still more than powerful enough to heal these men completely now that Doc has removed the shrapnel and bullets." He kneeled back beside the man he had begun healing before he was interrupted. A soft Red glow came from the device and moved over the wounded S.F. Operator as Jake traced up and down the Soldiers body.

There was a noticeable easing of the Soldiers breathing as he eased into a deeper, more relaxed sleep. Jake worked his way from man to man until all six men were healed and sleeping peacefully. As Jake stood up he staggered and almost fell. Frank reached out instinctively to steady him. **"I'm sorry my friend. I forgot how taxing the healing device was when healing more than minor wounds. I need to rest for a little while. We are cloaked and parked in a geosynchronous orbit. We'll be safe here for as long as we want to stay."**

Frank looked at Jake for a bit as the Tok'ra shuffled to the back of the hold and laid down on a mat. The Special Forces team leader was still a little disturbed by the events at the cave and not really sure what to do. He decided he would let Hammer rest and they could discuss the situation once he woke up.

Nine hours later the six wounded men had gotten up and were moving around scrounging through what food the group had managed to carry out of the cave. Specifically they were deciding which MRE they wanted as each Operator that was capable had carried three cases each onto the bomber. Hammer woke up to the smell of carbide from the heaters in the MRE's.

He made his way over to where the MRE cases were stacked but one of the Operators tossed him a couple of meals before he reached them. "Thanks, I'm famished." He walked up to the front of the ship and took a seat in the pilots chair before tearing into the first meal and devouring it without heating it. He didn't even care which meal he had, all of them had the calories his body desperately needed to regain his strength from the use of the healing device.

Frank had been sitting in the co-pilots chair when Jake walked in and sat beside him. Without saying a word, he got up and closed the hatch between the Pel'tak and the hall leading to the cargo hold. "We need to talk Jake." Frank said as walked back to sit in the co-pilots chair. He sat for a moment to collect his thoughts before continuing.

"I thank you for helping to save my men. But did you have to kill those Air Force pilots? They were probably just following orders and had no idea who they were attacking." Jake sat there and considered his answer carefully.

"**I was not trying to kill them, I meant only to disable their planes and force them to eject. They went into evasive maneuvers when I decloaked behind them. They still had their target lock and were not showing any indication of discontinuing the attack. It was not my intention to kill them I just couldn't get a solid enough lock on the planes to just disable them. There was just no other way. It was either kill them first or let them drop their JDAMS and kill your men." **

Frank sat for a bit to digest the explanation he had just heard. "It just feels wrong killing someone that is supposed to be like our Brothers. But again I am grateful you were able to save my men. I just wish we could have arrived in time to save them all and not lose the FNG." Hammer nodded his head and Bilgames' host took over. "I promise, from this day on, I will do everything I can to avoid killing another American serviceman. I dislike it as much as you do."

Satisfied with that Frank went to his next question. "So, what's our next move?" Jake thought a bit. "Well, we can see what we can learn about the facility where the Star Gate is kept. Or we can scout out a planet where we can set up a base of operations." MSG Ascott thought for a bit. "I will take Q with me and see what we can find out about the Star Gate. You take the rest of the team and see if you can find us a planet to call home."

Jake dipped his head in acknowledgement. "I will go to Abydos first and see what I can learn there. Then we'll look for that planet." With the plan devised he took the Al'kesh out of orbit and landed the two Special Forces Operators in a clearing about three miles from Cheyenne Mountain. "Be careful,there is no telling what kind of security or monitoring sensors they have around that facility. I will pick you up at these coordinates when we get back."

Frank shook Jake's hand and grinned from ear to ear. "Nothing to worry about Boss, this is what we are trained to do." When the two released their grip, Ascott and Q faded into the tree line.

Jake powered up the engines of the cloaked Al'kesh and took off for the stars. As he cleared the gravity well of the planet he set a course for Abydos and engaged the hyperdrive. Boomer was sitting in the co-pilots chair watching the flow of hyperspace outside the windows of the Pel'tak. "I don't think I could ever get tired of watching this."

Jake looked up and grinned. "It is a truly beautiful sight. You might want to go get some rest Boomer. We'll be on Abydos in a couple of hours and I'll need a couple of fire teams ready and loaded for bear just in case." Boomer turned serious and got up to walk out. He stopped at the door and looked back. "Who do you want on those teams"? Jake answered almost immediately. "You know the men better than I do Boomer; choose two teams and another team leader. I want you leading team 1."

Just over two hours later the Al'kesh exited hyperspace in orbit of Abydos. Jake cloaked the ship immediately after the ship passed back into normal space and began scanning the area around the planet. "This is curious." He said as Boomer walked back into the Pel'tak.

"I am reading significant levels of gamma radiation and debris that could be from a ship. The debris reads to be Naquadah and is consistent with what would be left if a Cheops Class pyramid ship were destroyed. I'm also detecting a moderately large human population."

He studied the sensors for several minutes more before making a decision. "I'll land the ship near the large pyramid but far enough away so the inhabitants don't hear the engines." He eased the ship into a smooth landing a couple klicks (kilometers) from the pyramid.

"Boomer, I'm leaving Team 2 here to guard the ship, you and Team 1 are with me. If you need to shuffle some equipment or people, now is the time. Also, let's keep the snake in my head our little secret for now. At least until we can understand the situation here." Then he turned to the Team 2 leader. "Keep one man on the sensors at all times. Hopefully we won't need anything drastic but even if you have to come bail our butts out of trouble, the guy on the sensors can guide you to where you're needed." SSG Michael Lamb (Team 2's leader) nodded his acceptance before turning to one of his team.

"Spider, you're on sensors." Spider moved forward to take his place in the pilots chair and went over what Hammer had taught him about the alien sensors. After the small briefing was complete, Hammer turned and headed for the outer hatch. "Let's do this." He said as he donned a pair of Oakley half jackets and proceeded into the desert with the Special Forces team in tow.

The small recon group made it within 750 meters or so of the pyramid before they were noticed by a lookout. They couldn't hear the shouts very clear but they knew he was yelling a warning to the people inside. Several armed men came running out of the pyramid and rushed toward them. "Fan out but keep your hands away from your weapons unless they do something stupid."

The Spec Ops fire team fanned out in a wedge formation with their hands held to their sides to show they were not a threat. As the first of the armed men got close Hammer started trying to communicate with them. "Hello, I am SFC Jake Hammer and these are my associates."

One of the men in the front (men was an understatement, none of them was over 25 and most were in their teens) said something in a language that Jake didn't understand but Bilgames knew all too well. Jake held his hands out to his side and replied. "Sorry, I don't understand." The boy then spoke in broken English. "Drop weapons."

Jake slowly shook his head and rested his hands on the butt of the borrowed M-4 that was suspended by his wolf hook. "Sorry again Son, but that ain't happening. We will cause no trouble but we are not going to surrender our weapons." The boy started yelling in the other language again. One of the older boys walked to the front and placed a hand on the other boys shoulder. "Na Nay. Peace Brother they have shown no aggression, Daniel is coming."

Jake noticed another man walking toward them quickly. He was dressed as the others but was wearing a pair of Air Force issue sun goggles. They were round frame sunglasses with a shroud around them to help keep dust and windblown sand out of the eyes. Jake and Boomer exchanged a look that showed they were thinking the same thing. "_Where would he have gotten those glasses?"_

As he neared Jake and his team, he extended his hand. "I'm Doctor Daniel Jackson, welcome to Abydos." Jake accepted the hand shake before speaking. "SFC Jacob Hammer, US Army, and these are Boomer, JJ, Ice Man, Viper, and Bear." He indicated each as he called there nicknames. Daniel scrunched his face a little. "Those seem like odd names."

Boomer stepped forward slightly. "Those aren't our real names, well except for JJ. They are our handles from our team." He extended his hand to Daniel as well. "They call me Boomer because my job is to blow shit up. United States Special Forces at your service." That's when Daniel realized they had both identified themselves as working for the United States. "Wait a minute, did you say United States? But no one came through the Star Gate?"

Jake looked over at Boomer. "Well you see, we didn't use the Star Gate because we came in a Goa'uld Al'kesh." At the mention of the Goa'uld, Daniels head jerked up and the boys that had first met them brought their weapons to their shoulders pointed back at Jake and the SF team. "What do you know of the Goa'uld?" Daniel asked pointedly. The SF team had also brought their weapons up and was pointing them at the boys now. Jake eased his had onto the front sight of Boomer's weapon and gently pushed it toward the ground.

"Easy guys, lower your weapons. We're not here to start a fight. We are just here to get to the bottom of what happened to Ra and how it happened." Again Daniel could barely contain his shock. "Why are you trying to find out about Ra? Are you a Goa'uld and not a normal human?" Jake looked at Daniel like he had two heads or something. "If I were a Goa'uld, why would I tell you? Wouldn't I just march in here all glowey eyed and start killing everyone to prove that I am a God?" Daniel thought about it for a little bit. "That still doesn't answer the first question." Hammer was about to explain when a young boy came running out of the pyramid screaming for Daniel.

Daniel looked toward the boy running toward him carrying something. Once the little boy got close enough, Jake could see he was carrying a Kleenex box. He then looked toward Daniel with a questioning look. "Looks like someone sent me a message without saying anything. The only one that would do that would be Jack." He looked back toward Jake.

"We still have to get this settled." Jake looked up at the sky. "I promise you that we are not your enemy. Ok, but we aren't giving up our weapons and we need to get out of this sun. We've just spent most of the last nine months in Iraq and frankly I'm tired of the sun." Jake could see Daniel was mulling over the decision. Daniel turned to one of the boys and said something to him in the tongue they had first used.

Jake sighed and looked at Daniel as four of the boys ran off in the direction Jake and his party had just come from. "You won't find our ship. It has a cloak and is guarded by another Special Forces fire team." Daniel whistled for the four boys to return. The last thing he wanted was them to be killed by a highly trained Special Forces team. "You still have a lot to explain." He said to Jake before walking away.

Daniel removed the tissue from the box and looked toward Jake. "You wouldn't have a Sharpie on you would you?" Jake shook his head as Boomer stepped forward with a Black Sharpie. Daniel took the marker and wrote on the side of the box, "Thanks send more."

As they came to the entrance to the pyramid, Daniel stopped and turned to Jake. "Wait here; I don't want you seeing the symbols I am dialing." Jake chuckled at him. "Daniel, I already know the six symbols to dial Earth and I know how to find this planet's point of origin for the seventh symbol. But like I said, I have a ship; I don't need your Star Gate."

Daniel walked away anyway. A few seconds later the sound of the Star Gate activating could be heard from deeper in the pyramid. A couple of minutes later, Daniel reappeared in the archway. "Come on in. You have a lot of explaining to do to convince me not to have all of you killed. We will be watching you." Jake turned to Boomer. "I know I don't have to tell you to stay alert. Once we are inside, see what the layout is and set your men where you feel comfortable. I trust you to keep our asses safe." Boomer nodded in acknowledgement. "We got your back Sarge."

Once they got inside the pyramid, they saw a small encampment set up in front of the Star Gate. Daniel indicated that Jake should sit across from him near a cooking pot and fire. Jake sat down with his M-4 across his lamp and took a deep breath. "I guess I should start at the beginning. I was deployed to Iraq and was in charge of escorting supply convoys from BIAP (Baghdad International Airport). My last convoy was ambushed by insurgents using Goa'uld staff weapons and Goa'uld stun grenades."

Daniel interrupted at that point. "How do you know they were using staff weapons and how do you know they were Goa'uld?" Jake continued. "I didn't know what they were at the time; I just knew they were taking apart my gun trucks like a torch on butter. But I'll get to how I know about them in a minute."

An hour later, Jake had told the entire story (minus the part that he was host to a Tok'ra symbiont). Daniel sat and pondered what he had heard for several minutes before speaking. "There are still a few things that are unclear. How did you know what frequency to scan for when you put together your make shift scanner? How did you learn how to fly a Goa'uld ship so fast and how did you learn the language that fast?"

Jake took a deep breath before answering. "Remember I told you about the Tok'ra? Well let me ask you one question first. Do you know the story of Gilgamesh?" Daniel chuckled. "What kind of archeologist would I be if I hadn't heard of Gilgamesh?"

Jake decided to come clean. "Well, Gilgamesh was a Tok'ra that had been sent to Earth to oppose Ba'al. He fought Ba'al by starting a rebellion and lost. When Ba'al captured him, he didn't kill him. He stripped the symbiont out of the host and killed the host. Gilgamesh was the host, his symbiont was called Bilgames. He didn't kill Bilgames but imprisoned him in a stasis jar that was built to look like a canopic jar. The symbiont was trapped in stasis for over 4,000 years,"

He looked toward Daniel and his eyes glowed, "**Until a few weeks ago when I was freed during a fight between my current host and his captors. I knew that if I did not blend with Jacob, we would both die. I promised to leave when I found another willing host but we have come to an agreement so I will stay. I am Bilgames. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."**

Just at that moment as several of the Abydonians were scrambling away from Jake, the Star Gate began dialing. All else was forgotten as everyone took up defensive positions. Jake looked around to pin point the men with him and pulled the ring laser out of his pocket and slipped it on while drawing his zat with the other.

With a loud whoosh the unstable vortex extended out from the now active Star Gate before settling back to the event horizon. Several men in Military uniforms emerged from the Star Gate. As Jake started to challenge them, Daniel stepped forward, still keeping a wary eye on Bilgames, and greeted one of the men. "Major Kawalsky? What are you doing here? And you brought Ferretti too?"

At that moment a female, also in full combat gear, emerged from the gate and lost her footing before being caught and steadied by Kawalsky. She was followed almost immediately by the last member of the small party. Daniel looked toward the last member before addressing Colonel Jack O'Neill. "Jack? What's going on?"

Jack began explaining about the attack on Earth and that they thought it was Ra. Daniel stopped him and assured Jack that Ra was dead. Then he turned to Jake. "I bet he could fill us in on what's going on. He's one of them." All of the team members with O'Neill stepped back and pointed their weapons at Jake. This in turn caused the Special Forces team members with Hammer to their weapons at Jack and his team. So the Abydonians pointed their weapons at everyone. Daniel intervened and got everyone to lower their weapons as Bilgames began to explain again the difference between him and the Goa'uld.

It hit Daniel as Bilgames mentioned the Tok'ra again what Tok'ra actually meant. "Wait Jack, Tok'ra means basically "Against Ra". They are the Goa'uld resistance if you will." A slight smile appeared on Hammer's face. **"Yes Dr. Jackson. That is essentially the closest translation that fits the situation. We have been at war with the Goa'uld System Lords for millennia. We are few compared to their numbers so we have mostly fought a gorilla type war of sabotage and subterfuge. I on the other hand prefer direct confrontation. I set a trap just yesterday that killed another System Lord named Cronus. So essentially we have killed two System Lords in two years."**

He went on to explain the feudalistic type governing method of the Goa'uld System Lords. By the time he was finished both Daniel and the team from Star Gate Command had a good grasp of what was going on in the Galaxy. He had purposely not told them about the details of his capture or the botched attempt of what he thought was the CIA to kill him and the SF team.

While Bilgames was explaining about what he had learned on their short visit to the Tok'ra, Boomer got a radio message from SSG Lamb about a sandstorm headed their way. Within ten minutes of Boomer acknowledging the message, a massive sandstorm blew across the pyramid. Boomer just shook his head. "I thought we left this crap behind when we were out of Iraq."

O'Neill sat and thought for a minute. "Ok, I have to ask. How the hell did a Special Forces team and a Tok'ra end up together and how did you end up here?" Bilgames took a deep breath and lowered his head. When he looked up, he began the tale he had decided share. "My name is Sergeant First Class Jacob Hammer." O'Neill was a bit taken back. "Wait, why did your voice change?"

Hammer went on to explain. "The Tok'ra live a completely balanced symbiotic relationship with our hosts. What the host knows, the symbiont knows and vice versa. When it's the human host talking, you hear a normal human voice. When the symbiont is talking, the voice deepens considerably. The Goa'uld on the other hand very rarely allow their host to speak at all. They completely suppress the host until the host is all but none existent. The host knows what is going on but is powerless to do anything other than watch like in a waking nightmare."

Captain Samantha Carter spoke up at hearing that. "That must be a truly miserable existence. How can anyone live like that?" Bilgames turned to face her.

"**It is an existence of pure torture and horror as the host must be witness to the atrocities they are forced to commit. The Jaffa that serve as the Goa'uld incubators are not much better off. Most serve their "Gods" willingly as they do not truly know any better. They are raised from infancy to believe the Goa'uld are truly Gods. They know nothing of the true nature of the Goa'uld."**

He lowered his head again and when he looked back up, he continued speaking with Hammer's voice. "I was deployed to Iraq on a peace keeping mission with Charlie Company 2/6 Infantry. My platoon had convoy escort duty and was escorting a supply convoy just North of Baghdad. We were ambushed by insurgents using Goa'uld staff weapons. I didn't know that's what they were at the time, just that I had never seen something so terrifying. My driver and I were captured and tortured for weeks. When they attempted to film me being executed, I fought back. During the fight, a canopic jar was knocked from the shelf. The jar was a Goa'uld stasis jar that contained the symbiont Bilgames. The seal had been weakened by the insurgents when they tried to get it open to see what it was. The lid came open and Bilgames would have died and so would I if he hadn't seized the chance and blended with me. The added strength and healing ability allowed me to kill my captors, rescue my driver, and make it to the courtyard where I ran into these guys." He said as he indicated Boomer and his team.

"Their team medic stabilized us the best he could and called for a Medavac bird (usually referred to as a Dust Off) to take us to Camp Liberty. That's all I have personal knowledge of until Boomer, Q, and their team leader, MSG Frank Ascott rescued me from the hospital after someone killed my driver with poison then tried to do the same with me. If not for Bilgames neutralizing the poison, they would have succeeded. Boomer you can fill them in on what happened after the Medavac took off."

Boomer stepped up and told the small group everything that happened from the time the Dust Off flight left to the current moment from his point of view. O'Neill and Kawalsky shared a look with each other before Jack looked back to Hammer and began talking.

"At our briefing for this mission, General Hammond informed us about a Government organization called the NID. We think it stands for National Intelligence Department or Division. They were activated back in the '40's when the Government began experimenting with the Gate. Their mandate was to seek out any and all technology associated with the Stargate. They were ordered to confiscate and cover up any evidence that the technology had ever existed. The problem is they stopped sharing what they found with the Government and have gone rogue."

Jake and Boomer shared a look this time. "They tried to kill us all and they did succeed in killing my driver. Colonel, we can help you hunt down this rogue agency and you can help clear our names. I have a ship that can scan the entire planet for the unique energy signature that the Goa'uld technology emits. I also have a few gate addresses that you might want to check out after we are finished with the NID."

He had managed to dredge up something he thought were genetic memories of gate addresses from the Alteran DNA he had found that was a part of Jake. Capt. Carter spoke up then. "We thought the Gate only went between Abydos and Earth." Jake smiled, No Captain, there are thousands of Gates scattered all across this Galaxy. I can provide you with many addresses to explore and most of the ones that you should avoid for now."

One of the Abydonians whispered something to Daniel. Daniel acknowledged the report before addressing the group. "The sandstorm has passed. I think there is something you are going to want to see." Jake looked over at Boomer. "You go ahead and see what he's found. Take Sergeant Winters with you, I'm going to stay here and look around the pyramid."

Daniel took Jack, Kawalsky, and Sam with him to show them what he had discovered while exploring around Abydos. They had been gone about 10 minutes when the Gate activated again. Again everyone took up defensive positions and Jake donned the ring laser and drew his zat once again. This time death and danger emerged from the Gate.

A Jaffa Serpent Guard emerged from the Gate with his staff weapon held in front of him. He opened fire the instant he was clear of the Gate leaving Jake no other course of action but to return fire. "Open fire! Kill anything coming out of that Gate! Aim for the Jaffa's stomachs!" He yelled before shooting the Serpent Guard in the stomach with the ring laser.

Between Jake, the three Special Forces Operators, and the Abydonians, they killed several Serpent Guards, wounded a couple more, and badly wounded another in golden armor with a golden serpent helm. Jake moved forward to cover the three wounded opponents. When he approached the one if the golden armor, he saw the helm open up and realized the man spoke weakly.

"**How dare you attack your God, Apophis!" **Bilgames looked down on the bleeding man. He caught movement out the corner of his eye and turned faster than humanly possible toward the Jaffa that was raising his staff towards Bilgames. Even as fast as he was, he never got the chance to deal with the threat. The other wounded Jaffa fired his staff into the face of the other Jaffa before lowering his staff back to the ground and asking.

"Is the False God dead?" Hearing this, Apophis tried to raise himself up. **"Shol'va! I will kill your whole family fo…ahhhh!" **Bilgames had cut him off by putting his foot on his chest and shoving him back to the ground. **"I don't think so weakling. Know that you die by the hand of Bilgames of the Tok'ra." **

He then pointed the ring laser at the face of Apophis and fired, killing both the host and symbiont instantly. Jake then turned the laser toward the last Jaffa. The Jaffa bowed his head and presented his staff weapon with arms extended and the staff lying on top of his extended hands. "I am Teal'c, First Prime of Apophis. I yield to you Bilgames of the Tok'ra." Bilgames chuckled. **"Now why would a First Prime, betray his God and then surrender?" **

Teal'c glared at Bilgames in defiance. "He was a false God and did not deserve my devotion. I have been forced to do innumerable atrocities in his name. I know he was not a God. A God would not need to use the Jaffa to raise their young inside us or to be their Army. A real God would need none of that and would have known you waited in ambush."

Bilgames considered that answer for a bit before deciding to accept the yield. He leaned down and removed the staff weapon from Teal'c before examining Teal's wounds. He had been the one to shoot Teal'c with the ring laser. But as the shot had impacted the armor, Teal'c had turned slightly and caught the blast in his side instead of directly in the symbiont pouch. Both Teal'c and the symbiont had been injured but both would recover. Jake stepped away and handed the staff to Boomer.

"Guard him until I get back. I'm going to go get the ship and pick up Daniel and the ones with him. I'll return as soon as I have them. Have the other two help Skaara and Sha're with their wounded." Daniel had introduced everyone before Bilgames and Boomer had told their stories.

Less than ten minutes later, Bilgames was approaching the cloaked Al'kesh. He activated the throat mike to his radio as he came close. "SSG Lamb, please decloak the ship, I need to make a run." The Al'kesh shimmered into existence before him. Hammer boarded the ship and lifted off to scan for Daniel and his visitors. It took less than five minutes for him to find them as he calculated the maximum distance from the pyramid they could have made it in the time they had.

He eased the ship down next to a small area where he could see excavation had been done. Jack, Daniel, and the others had heard the ship landing and came out of the dig to check on it. Hammer saw them and yelled at them from the open hatch of the bomber. "You need to get aboard so I can get you back to the pyramid faster. There was an attack from the Gate. Several of the Abydonians were wounded and we captured one of the attackers alive." The small group quickly boarded the ship and the Al'kesh lifted off the ground and quickly shot toward the pyramid. Daniel and O'Neill were all full of questions.

"My wife, is she alright? How about Skaara? Who was hurt?" Bilgames calmly flew toward the pyramid. **"They are both unharmed Doctor Jackson. And none of your people were harmed beyond my ability to heal them. I just thought you would want to know that Apophis was leading the raid and he is most likely the one that attacked the SGC back on Earth."**

That got O'Neill's attention even more. "You think he attacked us then came here to attack us again? How would he know we were here?" They were approaching the pyramid now. **"As I said, we captured one of the attackers; actually he is the First Prime of Apophis. I'm sure he will have most of your answers."**

Jake landed the ship then picked up the healing device before he followed the others into the Pyramid. None of the injuries were life threatening as the attack had been dealt with swiftly. Carter dialed Earth to report on what had happened. After Teal'c was healed, he confirmed that it was Apophis that had attacked Earth and captured the female airman because Apophis was searching for a new host for his queen.

As Carter and O'Neill were briefing General Hammond on the situation, O'Neill looked toward Jake when he came to the part about him and the Special Forces team. Hammer told him to go ahead and tell the General the full story. So they went into the capture of SFC Jacob Hammer and what they believed to be the attempt by the NID to kill him and the Special Forces team.

General Hammond ordered O'Neill and the others to bring Jake and the SF team back to the SGC Hammer looked at O'Neill to give him his answer. "No offense Colonel, but I'd rather fly back to Earth in my ship than be at the mercy of the SGC. You and Capt. Carter are more than welcome to ride back with me if you like. But I prefer to be in control of my own freedom. As do my friends here. "

He indicated Boomer and the other Operators. Carter's face lit up at the mention of her riding back in a hyperspace capable ship. "How long will it take you to get back to Earth?" General Hammond asked. "It will only take a few hours General. Abydos isn't that far from Earth. I'm not trying to be disrespectful General. After the previous attempt on my life, I just feel more comfortable in my ship. As I told Colonel O'Neill, I can also use it to scan the surface for the energy signatures of the Goa'uld technology the NID has hidden away. With any luck we can pin point their location to plan a raid. I doubt they have been able to move anything off planet yet. I have another concern as well General. What about the Abydonians? We killed one of the System Lords and several of his Jaffa. We can't just leave them here to fend for themselves."

Daniel stepped forward. "They could bury the gate so no one else can come through." Hammer shook his head. "This is the System Lords we are talking about Daniel; they have ships and lots of them." Teal'c spoke up then. "Several Jaffa know we were searching planets for a host to be Apophis' new queen. But none know the address' we were searching. No ships will come to Abydos. If they bury their gate, they should be safe." That satisfied Jake for now. He would help relocate the Abydonians later if they wanted. Or if they wanted to stay, he could help them build defenses and better living accommodations.

Major Kawalsky and the rest of the team from the SGC went back through the gate while Daniel and Sha're said their goodbyes to Skaara, Kasuf, and the rest of the Abydonians. Jake brought Teal'c along with O'Neill and Carter. Sam looked like a kid at Christmas when she entered the Al'kesh.

"This is going to be great Colonel. I can't wait to tear into this ship to see what makes it tick." Jake snickered, **"Now now Captain, no tearing into my ship until I don't need it anymore. I can teach you how to build one. If my theory pans out the way I'm thinking it will, I'll be able to teach you how to build even better ships than this. Goa'uld imagination for their ship design has never been very impressive to me. They have no idea of aesthetics when it comes to aerodynamics, other than their Deathglider and Al'kesh that is." **

Sam looked at Jake curiously. "And what theory would that be?" The only response she got was a smile from the Tok'ra/Army SFC. With that smile, Jake flew the Al'kesh out of the atmosphere and opened a hyperspace window to Earth. Captain Carter was staring out the window at the colors of hyperspace as it passed over the Al'kesh like a river.

Jake looked over toward Carter and smiled. "Boomer," He called, "come up here. I want to show you something. Captain Carter if you would wait for me in the back I'll show you the hyperdrive." Sam grinned from ear to ear and almost ran to the back grabbing O'Neill on the way. As Boomer approached the pilot's chair Jake began softly. "Take a seat and monitor the flight controls while I'm giving Carter and O'Neill the dime tour. Once we arrive at Earth, I want you and SSG Lamb's team to stay aboard the ship. Do you have any flight experience of any kind?"

Boomer told him that he didn't have any experience with flight other than with a parachute but SSG Lamb had both a fixed wing and a rotary wing license. "Good, go bring him up here quietly please." Boomer disappeared to the back for a couple of minutes then reappeared with SSG Lamb.

"SSG Lamb," Jake said quietly without looking in the NCO's direction, "please have a seat in the co-pilot's chair and listen carefully. You're about to get a crash course in flying this ship. No pun intended mind you." He dropped out of hyperspace to demonstrate the flight controls. It didn't take long for SSG Lamb to catch on and shortly the Al'kesh jumped back into hyperspace.

"When we get to Earth, I'll want your team and Boomer's to stay with the ship. I'll cloak the ship and fly close to Cheyenne Mountain. I'll then radio MSG Ascott and try to pick them up when I, Colonel O'Neill, and Captain Carter ring down. It should be relatively easy for you to make it back to orbit still under cloak. I'll take this communication device with me and contact you if something goes wrong. You'll be able to track my position and be able to zero in on my location if I need pick up. If all goes well, I'll contact you so you can land."

SSG Lamb was comfortable with everything but landing. "I appreciate your confidence in me Sergeant, but I would rather ring you up as you say and let you land. I don't want to take the chance I'll crash on my first attempt."

"Fair enough Staff Sergeant, I understand completely. If it weren't for Bilgames knowledge that I share, I would feel the same way. Very well, I'll contact you either way good or bad." With that Jake got up and allowed SSG Lamb to take over the pilot's seat. "While we are in hyperspace, all you need to do is monitor these systems. I'll be back before we are due to drop out of hyperspace."

He indicated the read outs on the holographic heads up display (or HUD) before grabbing Boomer and linking up with Carter and O'Neill. As they entered the cargo bay where the rings were located, he pulled Boomer to a nearby panel on the wall. "Once we get back to Earth and prepare to ring down, Boomer, press this button, this one then this one, in that sequence. That will activate the rings and transport anyone standing in them to the surface."

He indicated the required buttons and the ring transporter before locking eyes with Colonel O'Neill. "I'm sorry Colonel, but for now it will just be me, you, and Carter going to meet the General. My ship will stay in orbit under the guard of my Special Forces friends until I am assured they will be safe and no more attempts are made on their lives. I still promise that if all goes well Captain, I will allow you access to the entire ship, its technology, and my knowledge. Trust me Captain; the System Lords are not going to act too kindly to the blatant assassination of three System Lords in two years by what they see as outsiders. Killing each other is one thing; anyone else killing a System Lord is something entirely different. You are going to need me and my knowledge more than you know. I am not your enemy Colonel O'Neill. I'm a simple Soldier that has been given what I consider an incredible gift. I now have the knowledge and the ability to protect the country I love from any threat or at least start us down that path. Now if you want, I'll still give you a tour of the ship and explain what I can without tearing it apart."

O'Neill took that little statement into consideration before following Hammer and Carter to the engine compartment.

When he entered, Hammer was explaining the hyperdrive. "The hyperdrives of this era are a lot faster than the ones the Goa'uld operated while I was on Earth 4,000 years ago. The ships that fulfilled the role of the Al'kesh would have taken over a day to travel between Earth and Abydos. This newer, better designed model can make it in a few short hours. They are actually using a modified version of the hyperdrive I developed for the Tok'ra in some of their stolen Cheops Class pyramid ships. From what I can see, they made it more compact to fit the smaller ship and developed a new type of alloy that drastically improved the power transfer rate in the engine itself."

When he saw the look O'Neill was giving him he had to clarify. "Well, not me specifically, but Bilgames, the symbiont I now share my body with. He is and was a brilliant inventor." O'Neill made a face of disgust. "You know, that's something I just don't get. How the hell can you be so calm with a snake in your head?"

Hammer looked at O'Neill and answered sincerely. "Colonel, I wasn't joking when I said I consider this to be an incredible gift. I have always been sort of a geek and tech nut. I could tell you the different classes of every Federation starship from Star Trek WAY before I ever joined the Army. I always looked to the stars and yearned to learn what was out there."

Hammer stood there a bit just watching O'Neill and Carter while he debated how to broach the subject of the NID. _**"Just open up and tell them honestly what you want to do." **_Bilgames counseled. _**"O'Neill strikes me as the direct type that does not mince words and an honorable man."**_

So Hammer took the symbiont's advice. "Well, I wasn't quite sure how to broach this, but Bilgames suggested just coming out and saying it. He seems to like O'Neill and thinks that you are a straight forward and honest man."

Jake said as he looked Jack in the eye. O'Neill made that face again before asking. "Bilgames, that's the snake in your head? You can actually hear what he is thinking?" Jake laughed.

"Not exactly Colonel, but that's close enough for our purposes at the moment. So here we go. I don't want to go to the planet to discuss what we need to do about the NID. I am not sure who to trust as I have no idea how deep their tentacles reach. They had enough pull to kill my driver, try to kill me and the Special Forces team not once, but twice. If you truly trust General Hammond then I would prefer to bring him up here to discuss plans to take the NID down and do it quickly." He paused and took a breath before continuing.

"This is what I propose. One, we land near the SGC to allow you to go in and either get General Hammond outside or get him to go to Abydos and I'll meet him there. I think I would prefer just having him outside so I can ring him to the ship and cloak the instant he is transported aboard. I'll sweep him for listening devices then I can lay out my plan and see if he will go for it. I trust you and I trust Sam. I'm not sure I trust General Hammond and from what I see of you Jack, you do not totally trust him either. Trust has to start somewhere; it might as well be here. I think we can take down the NID with the SF team here and the other two I dropped off near Cheyenne Mountain."

Colonel O'Neill snapped his head around. "Now wait just one damn minute. You're telling me that you dropped off two Special Forces Operators to infiltrate the SGC?" Hammer stood his ground and looked O'Neill straight in the eye. "Tell you wouldn't have done the same if you were the one in my shoes? They killed an innocent kid; they tried to kill me and the SF team as well. I had no idea what kind of backing they had or how deep their reach was. I had to gain as much Intel as possible to know what I was up against. I'm sure, given your background, that you would want as much Intel as you can get your hands on."

O'Neill just shrugged his shoulders because he knew he would have done the exact same thing if the roles were reversed. Hammer finished the tour and grabbed an MRE before heading back to relieve SSG Lamb.

Two hours later the Al'kesh dropped out of hyperspace behind the moon and immediately cloaked. Hammer took the cloaked bomber into the Earth's atmosphere and into the airspace of Cheyenne Mountain. He picked up the ear piece and throat mike.

"Viper Seven, Viper Seven, this is Copperhead One Seven." He paused for a few seconds and was about to call again. "Copperhead One Seven this is Viper Seven, mission complete, ready for evac." Hammer smiled. "Roger Viper Seven, approaching evac coordinates now."

He looked over to Jack, "it's now or never Colonel, your call. You can take Sam with you or she can wait until you contact me with the General." O'Neill looked at Sam who decided to go with him. "I won't stop you Captain. Here is a communication device you can us to contact me when you are ready to be picked back up. Take it as a show of good faith."

He nodded to Boomer who followed Colonel O'Neill to the rings and ringed both O'Neill and Carter down to the small clearing while ringing up MSG Ascott and Q. Once the rings had returned and brought Frank Ascott and Q into the ship, Jake cloaked the ship and flew several kilometers away from the pick-up point.

"Welcome back guys. I was a bit worried they had managed to capture or kill you two." Q chuckled. "Give us some credit Sarge, we did have a couple of close calls, but we are the best there is at this game. I even managed to hack one of their networked computer terminals and download quite a bit of information."

With that he pulled a small harddrive about the size of a cigarette pack from his vest. Frank and Jake both went over what each of them had experienced and the Intel both had gathered. Jake looked Frank in the eye, "I'm glad you two were able to pull this off. You both might want to grab some chow and get some rest. I have a feeling Colonel O'Neill will be contacting us soon and we'll need to go over the plan to deal with the NID." Frank and Q both opted to sleep and eat when they woke up.

Six hours later the communications panel beeped indicating an incoming transmission. "Copperhead One Seven this is Sierra Golf One. Do you read?" Hammer acknowledged. "Sierra Golf One, this is Copperhead One Seven. I read you loud and clear."

Jake started the Al'kesh moving toward the clearing he had dropped O'Neill and Carter at earlier. "Roger Copperhead One Seven, myself and Sierra Golf Actual are near a small clearing about two klicks North of the drop off." Jake adjusted course and focused the sensors on that area. Just over two klicks North of the first clearing, he picked up two life signs. He expanded the scan until he was satisfied others weren't waiting in ambush. As he settled over the clearing he decloaked the ship and waited for O'Neill and General Hammond to move under the hovering Al'kesh before signaling Boomer to activate the rings.

Jake immediately cloaked the ship and moved back to a stable orbit. He ran a quick scan of both Colonel O'Neill and General Hammond with the internal sensors before standing up. He was turning over the pilot's seat to SSG Lamb as O'Neill and the General entered the Pel'tak. Jake approached General Hammond with his right hand extended.

"Welcome aboard General. I am glad you agreed to meet me here on the ship. I just couldn't take the chance that you or someone in your Command might be compromised. I hope you understand after the previous attempt on me and my friends here." He indicated a few of the Spec Ops Soldiers around him. General Hammond took in his surroundings.

"Believe me; it took a lot of convincing before I did finally agree. I just hope it's worth it. Colonel O'Neill tells me you offered to help us build ships and weapons to defend ourselves with." Jake nodded his head in confirmation. "Yes sir I did. But first, let's deal with the problem that is the NID. They have tried to kill me once, my friends twice, and they did kill my driver. Now let's at least scan the planet and see if we can pin point the location the NID is holding the captured technology."

General Hammond and O'Neill stood behind Jake as he methodically scanned the planet. "There you are." He stated triumphantly as he pointed to a flashing icon on the HUD. "It looks like they have an airfield here in the Mohave Desert." He took the cloaked ship in closer and ran a more detailed scan of the area. "It looks like they have some fairly heavy anti-air surrounding the base along with periodic foot patrols."

Boomer had woken up MSG Ascott and Q so they could be in on the planning of the raid. After introductions the small group studied the HUD, MSG Ascott had to whistle in admiration. "They are a completely rogue organization, where do they get their funding for all of those anti-aircraft weapons? I see a good mix of MIM-72 Chaparrals, MIM-104 Patriots, and several C-RAM cannon systems. Can the shields handle that kind of firepower?" Jake was rubbing his chin and thinking.

"Yes I believe they could but that would alert them to our presence before we can get teams in position to strike. I don't just want to destroy them, I want to capture everything we can and access any computer system they have. If we can do that, we can hopefully gain an idea if there are any more cells or more technology hidden where I can't detect it. What I was thinking was I set the ship down here in this clearing. We break into several fire teams and plant explosives here, here, here, and on all of the anti-air. If General Hammond wants, which I'm sure he does. We can use two teams from your Command to supplement the Special Forces we have here. With Teal'c that gives us twenty one trained shooters. We can break up into three man teams except for here. Frank, see these two small rises?"

MSG Ascott looked to spots Jake was indicating and broke into a huge grin. "Yes I see exactly what you are thinking. Just the slight elevation and position would allow two sniper teams with .338 Lapua Magnums to effectively cover the entire base, I like it." Jake addressed the rest of the group. "I think that gives us enough firepower to pull this off without tipping our hand to a possible infiltrator." Jack looked over the plan. "I like it General, what do you think?"

General Hammond thought about it for a bit. "I concur Colonel; I think this could work and give us a chance to capture either several NID members or some very valuable Intel. I am having the same thoughts as MSG though. Where are they getting their funding from?"

Jake looked toward the General with a completely expressionless face. "I really don't care General. They MURDERED a completely innocent young boy that deserved much better than that. I will do everything in my power to bring down whoever is responsible. Maybe we find it really was a rogue operative. But SOMEONE is providing them with A LOT of money and equipment. You can't just buy a Patriot missile platform anywhere."

After that little outburst, Hammer calmed down. "I'm sorry General; I know what you are getting at. You're wondering that maybe they haven't gone rogue and are still being funded by the United States Government. I think whether the entire organization has gone rogue or not, someone has even if they aren't in the NID. You don't kill your own Soldiers just to hide something like the Alien Technology, especially one of your most highly trained Special Forces teams. If they are just following orders from someone in the government, then we need to track down that person and put an end to their twisted schemes."

"I'll land you and Jack so you can get back to the base. Send the same teams you sent to Abydos, back there in twelve hours. I'll fly straight to Abydos and make sure they haven't buried the gate yet. I'll dial the SGC once I am sure the gate is free on the other end. I'll transmit one word to you so you'll know it's safe to send the teams through. The word will be simply Agamemnon. I'll pick up Jack and Kawalsky's teams and fly back to Earth to begin the mission. That should eliminate the suspicion anyone might have that might be coming after the NID." He dropped O'Neill and General Hammond off at a different clearing well away from where he picked them up then headed back to Abydos. The flight to Abydos was only a few hours so he had plenty of time to talk with Kasuf and Skaara. The Abydonians didn't want to leave Abydos as it was the only home that they knew.

"That is alright Kasuf. I can help you build better homes that will protect you from the heat and wind. I can help you learn how to build them yourselves and can also teach you how to build defenses that will protect you from the Goa'uld. I can help you learn better mining methods and teach you how to build the machines for yourselves. Whether the people of Earth decide to ally with me or not, I will still need the Naquadah of this planet. But I promise I won't force you to mine it as a tribute. I will pay you well with knowledge and friendship. I will help your people to prosper in a way you never dreamed possible."

Kasuf and Skaara both smiled at this. "Daniel said much the same thing during his time among us." Jake smiled back. "But did Daniel have the collective knowledge of a highly advanced alien race?"

With that he headed into the pyramid. He had asked all the Abydonians and Frank and his team to stay out of the pyramid just in case General Hammond betrayed them. Jake didn't think it was likely that would happen, he just didn't want to risk anyone else. He had used some spare parts from the Al'kesh to modify the force field the hand device emitted so that it would withstand the blast of a small tactical nuke just in case.

He dialed Earth and sent the agreed upon code word. He didn't have very long to wait after the gate shut off before it activated again. He braced himself and rechecked the hand device to make sure it was operating at over seven hundred and fifty percent above what it normally would.

It would burn out if he kept it running longer than a few minutes. But fortunately he didn't need to keep it running that long. Jack was the first one to step through the gate, followed quickly by the rest of his team then Kawalsky and his team. Just before the gate shut off, Jake heard General Hammond's voice coming from Jack's radio. "Good luck SG-1 and SG-2 and Gods Speed."

With that the gate shut down again and the mission was on. Before leaving Abydos, Jake had Kasuf and his people remove the gate from the pyramid and bury it with large cover stones placed inside the gate itself as the people of Earth had done to their gate after they rebelled and drove Ra from Earth. "I'll come back in my ship to keep my promise to you Kasuf, I promise."

Everyone had slept on the return trip to Earth, including Jake. SSG Lamb had become quite proficient at flying the ship once he understood the controls. Teal'c could have flown it and allowed SSG Lamb to sleep but Jake still didn't fully trust him yet. After the upcoming battle that would change as would a lot of things. The ship exited hyperspace behind the moon as they had been doing. SSG Lamb cloaked the ship and set a course for the first drop off coordinates. Jake had woken up as he felt the ship transition back into normal space.

Once all the teams were dropped off except Jake's, SSG Lamb headed back toward the main building of the airstrip the NID was using to store the Goa'uld technology. SSG Lamb would be the only one staying on the ship just in case. Jake's team consisted of MSG Ascott, Q, and himself. Their task was to ring in through the roof of the building to keep anyone from blowing up the building or erasing any data from the computers before they could capture them. Jake stood by the ring panel on the wall and looked at his watch. He set the rings to activate with a ten second delay then took his place on the ring platform. He keyed his throat mike and issued the order, "execute."

The explosives attached to the anti air launchers or cannon platforms went off at the same time. Guards on patrol were dropped in their tracks by either the sniper teams or other Special Forces members using suppressed weapons. As the anti-aircraft emplacements were destroyed, the Al'kesh decloaked and launched its rings through the roof of the main building and deposited Jake and his team in the middle of chaos.

The explosions had confused and frightened everyone inside the building just long enough to keep them from reacting to the sudden appearance of a large hole in their ceiling with a set of rings dropping through and leaving three Soldiers in their place. Jake had the suppressed MK-23 he had carried earlier as well as a Zat'nik'tel while the two Spec Ops with him were using suppressed M-4's. In seconds the room was completely clear of everyone except the three Soldiers.

"Clear!" Each of them called to let the others know their sector was clear. Q spotted a computer terminal in a side office and moved too it while the other two covered his back. With the help of Bilgames, Q had made a program that would crack through any known firewalls and intrusion countermeasures of any computer.

Q had loaded the program onto an external harddrive. Once the program burned through the firewalls, it downloaded every byte of information from the computer's harddrive. Just to be thorough, he downloaded all three computers that were in the area they were before they moved out of room looking for either other computers or other NID operatives to deal with.

The weapons fire from outside had soon stopped and everything was eerily quiet. Jake keyed his throat mike again. "Report, I need a sitrep." There was a crackle in his earpiece. "All clear outside Boss, most of them surrendered once the ship decloaked and your team ringed into the building. Only a few tried to actually fight back and we were forced to kill a few. Some were killed when the explosives on the AA went off." Jake nodded his head.

"We encountered pretty much the same thing inside. The ones that surrendered I stunned with the Zat and they are being secured now. Did we have any casualties?" The response came from Colonel O'Neill. "Only a couple of minor bumps, bruises, and scratches, nothing life threatening."

With that Q, Jake and Frank began zip tying the unconscious NID agents. Q used one of the computers to transfer all of the data he had collected onto another harddrive so the SGC could have a copy of their own to go over. Colonel O'Neill and Captain Carter came walking into the room just as Q was unplugging the second harddrive.

"Here you go Captain Carter. Your copy of everything we downloaded from their computers. Let's hope one of us finds something useful on it." Jack looked around the inside of the hanger. "That was too easy. It's like they just laid down and quit." Carter looked over a couple of their captives. "I think they were still stunned by the blasts from our demo charges. Look at this Colonel. All of them have blood coming from their ears. They must have been pretty shaken up by the blast."

Jack looked at the captives ears. "Hmmmpph, maybe you're right. Let's get General Hammond on the horn and get this mess cleaned up." General Hammond had been waiting anxiously for the word that the mission was a success. Within minutes of hearing from O'Neill, Hammond and a clean-up team was in route in a couple of C-130 cargo planes.

The prisoners were kept under constant guard and transferred to one of the C-130's as soon as it was empty. They were then flown to Area 51 to be interrogated under completely controlled conditions. Over the next few months as Hammer and the Special Forces team came to trust General Hammond and the other members of the SGC, several more raids on NID operations were conducted using data compiled from the information that was downloaded from the NID computers on the first raid.

Bilgames had allowed the scientists at Area 51 and Captain Carter unrestricted access to the Al'kesh. He had also acquired a couple of cargo ships and even a death glider for them to study. He had also made good on his promise to the Kasuf and returned to Abydos to help them install an iris on their stargate like the SGC had developed for theirs.

With the help of engineers from the SGC, Jake built a large field of solar panels to power the existing Abydonian dwellings and the new mining facility manned by more SGC engineers. Jake became a member of the SGC's flagship team SG-1 with Colonel O'Neill, Captain Carter, and Teal'c. When the team wasn't off world, Bilgames and Carter were deeply involved in the development and testing of new technology.

**SEVEN MONTHS LATER**

The main R&amp;D had been moved off world to a planet that had a climate virtually identical to the northern California region of Earth except it was riddled with very large veins of Naquadah. They had named the planet Vega. Rodney McKay had also found an unusually dense mineral in the neighboring asteroid field that the scientific community had named Rodarium.

An entire base had been built with state of art technology that was a mix of Earth, Goa'uld, and new technology that was developed by Bilgames. Bilgames had suggested they start small instead of trying to build something like a Ha'tak from the start. So today Captain Carter and Bilgames were rolling their brand new space superiority fighter out of a hanger.

They had taken the engines out of a death glider and built a body around them. The XF-40 looked a lot like a cross between the F-X concept fighter from Boeing and the one from Northrop. It had the sloped forward cockpit of the Boeing fighter and the elongated Delta wing shape of the Northrop fighter. Bilgames had added a holographic Heads Up Display that gave a 360 degree view around the fighter. O'Neill had seen the fighter going together but had not seen the finished product until now.

He let out a loud whistle as the XF-40 Dagger rolled to a stop in front of the bleachers set up for this demonstration. Hammer stepped up to the microphone as the plane came to a stop.

"Mr. Secretary, Admiral Milton, Joint Chiefs, General Hammond, and the rest of our distinguished guests. I welcome you to the first official test flight and demonstration of the newest addition to our planetary defense strategies. I present to you the XF-40 Dagger." Jake paused to wait for the applause to die down.

"The XF-40 was designed with not only planetary defense in mind but also the ability to take the fight to the enemy. It has been armed with four modified pulse plasma cannons, two on each side mounted at the wing root. It also carries an internal weapons bay that can mount a variety of weapons from the new Naquadah enhanced AIM-150 Falcons to the new Naquadah enhanced AIM-54 Phoenix. It is the same weapon that used to be carried by the F-14 Tomcats but it has had new tracking software, a better more efficient rocket motor, and a more deadly Naquadah warhead added. The Dagger can also carry one Naquadah enhanced nuclear cruise missile in each bay. That Ladies and Gentlemen is the basic load out of the Dagger. I will describe some of the other abilities as my co-designer; Captain Samantha Carter demonstrates them while in flight."

He turned and smiled at Sam as she shot down the runway and took the Dagger into the air in less than 100 feet.

"As you can see the XF-40 is capable of STOL (Short Take Off and Landing). We are working on a VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) model as well." As the Dagger shot skyward Carter took it "ballistic" (basically a completely vertical climb).

"Because of the material the Dagger is made of and a shielding system that will handle multiple hits from a Deathglider plasma cannon, the Dagger can easily attain the required escape velocity to escape the atmosphere of most planets." As he finished that statement, Carter rolled the fighter over and dove back toward the planet. As she leveled out and approached the bleachers Carter flared the sleek fighter to the side and flew passed the amazed audience completely sideways. Once she was passed the stands, three fast moving drones came zipping in toward the field while a larger slower moving drone came out of orbit.

Seeing the drones on the HUD, Carter increased power to the engines and pulled the yoke. The Dagger literally did a back flip and brought its nose to bear on the smaller drones. "As you can see, the vector thrust nozzles provide unsurpassed maneuverability and control. The Dagger is also equipped with powerful inertial dampeners that allow the pilot to withstand the massive G-forces caused by such a maneuver. "

Carter squeezed the trigger to the Pulse Plasma Cannons (PPC) with her finger while pressing the missile button with her thumb and in a split second the three drones disappeared in a ball of fire and a missile shot out from the recessed missile bay as it extended. Jake continued his narrative. "The advanced HUD and computer system allows the pilot to track and destroy targets that aren't even in front of the fighter." The missile arced around and slammed into the larger target drone, turning the drone into a large fireball.

"That Ladies and Gentlemen concludes today's demonstration. We hope you are pleased with the results. Refreshments are being served in the main hanger where we will answer as many questions as we can about what you've seen here today and other projects we are working on." Carter landed the Dagger and taxied over to the hanger that Jake had just mentioned. During the Q&amp;A session that followed both Captain Carter and SFC Hammer were "hammered" with questions about cost and feasibility of mass production of the new fighter.

Carter fielded most of the questions as she was the senior ranking of the R&amp;D team. "The cost is less than what it would cost to build a single F-16. Thanks to some impressive and innovative ideas by SFC Hammer, the biggest cost is manpower to mine and process the materials needed for the construction. The current engine we are using was taken straight from a Goa'uld Deathglider. But my colleague has reverse engineered the Deathglider engine and is in the process of completing his newer and much improved engine that will be incorporated into the all future builds. We are also experimenting with a smaller more powerful liquid Naquadah powered generator that may allow us to add a hyperspace engine."

The Secretary of Defense was very impressed and assured the assembled Generals and the Admiral that as much support as needed would be given to them to build as many XF-40's as possible.

Less than a week later the order came in from the President to reclassify the XF-40 to F-40 and began mass production. Jake chuckled as he read the order. "I guess it's a good thing we've already started building the Dagger." He said as he handed the paper over to Carter. "Now, let's see what they have to say about the Avenger."

Bilgames had also developed a Battle Cruiser he was calling the Avenger. The Avenger was just over 400 meters long with two massive spinal mounted heavy plasma cannons (larger, more powerful than the parent cannon on the Ha'tak), fifty rotary barrel rail guns (RBRG's) for fighter/missile defense, four dual plasma cannon turrets on either side of the ship.

The dual turrets were positioned in a slanting line that begins at the nose of the ship and slightly off set as they move toward the stern of the ship. This configuration allowed for the turrets to fire four turrets to each side (eight cannon broadside) or all turrets to fire forward or to the rear of the ship at once (all sixteen cannon). The Avenger would be designated XBC-101 (BC-101 once field trials were complete). It also had a small hanger bay that would hold eight F-40 Daggers or allow one Tel'tak to land with a good pilot. The prototype of the Avenger would be ready for her shakedown cruise in less than three weeks.

Carter and Bilgames were looking over the plans for several other ship designs when MSG Ascott came running down the hall. "We're getting a message from Earth. Several Goa'uld Ha'taks, have just dropped out of hyperspace at the edge of the system." Jake didn't need any further details. He turned and took off running toward the bay the Avenger was sitting in.

"Get me a small crew together with pilots as well. I want the hanger bay stocked with Daggers and that ship ready for launch in thirty minutes." Sam ran after him yelling. "Jake, it's not finished! We can't take it into battler yet!" Jake continued as if he hadn't heard. He boarded the nearly complete Battle Cruiser and began start up procedures. As Sam came running into the bridge of the ship, the ship was nearly finished powering up.

"I know it's not fully ready, Sam. We don't have a choice. Earth doesn't have enough Daggers yet to hold off an attack fleet and the orbital defense cannons are not built yet. We are the only hope Earth has of surviving." Sam looked at him but could not raise an argument so she sat down in the Operations Officers chair and began pre-flight checks. Thirty minutes later, the Avenger broke orbit and jumped to hyperspace.

Two hours later, in Earth orbit, a tear formed in the fabric of space and the Avenger shot out into normal space. The four Ha'tak had been holding just at the edge of the solar system to see what the Tau'ri were going to do. Bilgames began issuing orders.

"**Raise shields, power all weapons, and launch the fighters. Stargate Command, I would suggest putting SSG Lamb into the Al'kesh and getting it airborne as well. He has proven very proficient at handling it as well as anyone I have ever seen."**

"Elvis has left the building," was the response that came from General Hammond. Bilgames laughed at that. **"I copy General, good idea. Captain Carter, prepare for a short jump to the coordinates of the Ha'taks. Let's take the fight to them." **As Sam was inputting the information to the computer, the attack fleet began moving forward. "They're headed our way Jake. They just passed Pluto's orbit. Now they're coming up on Saturn."

"**Full military thrust; let's meet them as far away from Earth as we can. When they enter weapons range fire at will." **As the Avenger fired its main engines, the fighters shot forward to harass the Ha'taks and destroy any fighters that they launched. The fighters came into range first and unleashed a swarm of modified AIM-54's as each fighter launched four of the eight each carried. Sixteen Naquadah enhanced missiles Converged on each of the two lead Ha'taks.

"**Captain Carter; time your first volley of the main guns to impact the starboard Ha'tak a micro second before the Phoenix's impact their shields. Let's see if we can take the shields down for them." **A very short time later, the lights dimmed and the ship shuddered as the main battery blasted two lines of superheated plasma toward the Ha'tak on the right side of the advance.

The beams impacted the shields which flared extremely bright then flashed as they failed and the sixteen missiles slammed into the unshielded hull. Everyone covered their eyes from the brightness of the explosion. When they could focus again, the Ha'tak on the right was completely gone and the one on the left was drifting without power. Sparks flew from consoles as conduits overloaded.

Carter started scrambling between different consoles. "I told you we weren't ready! We just blew half the relays in the weapons control system. The main batteries are off line. Rotary rail guns still functional and we still have the starboard plasma turrets! Shields are down to forty percent and helm is still fully functional."

Bilgames just looked at her calmly. **"We had no choice Captain. I would rather lose this ship than to lose Earth. Reroute power from the damaged conduits into the shields. We'll get in punching range and see what the plasma turrets and rail guns can do."**

The Avenger surged forward and quickly closed the distance between the two operational Ha'taks. "They are launching Death gliders." The Daggers dove into the middle of the Death gliders even though they were vastly outnumbered. The fighters on both sides swarmed like angry hornets trying to best their enemy and the Earth fighters were winning despite being at a severe numerical disadvantage.

As the Avenger passed the drifting Ha'tak, the four operational turrets opened fire, pouring plasma bolts into the unshielded ship. The helpless Ha'tak exploded as a stray bolt punched through an already blasted hole and reached the reactor.

By this time the two remaining Ha'taks had opened fire on the Earth Battle Cruiser. The Avenger shuddered under the combined assault and the shields barely held. The turrets traversed to take the lead Ha'tak under fire and opened up. Carter was using the RBRG's on the other Ha'tak to try and keep it busy. "Shields are down to fifteen percent!" Carter yelled.

This was the moment that SSG Lamb decloaked the Al'kesh he had been hiding in the rings of Saturn and entered the fray. That took the pressure off of the Avenger and allowed her shields to begin to recharge. He targeted the same Ha'tak the Avenger was firing upon with her plasma turrets and unleashed a volley of plasma bombs.

The Ha'tak's shields flared brightly before collapsing under the combined attack. The plasma turrets tore huge holes in the super structure of the ship while SSG Lamb fired the twin staff cannon turret into the ship as he rolled for another pass. The combined fire stuck the unshielded hull and the entire ship went dark and started venting atmosphere. The Daggers had finally finished off the last Deathglider before the five that remained dashed back into the battle and launched their remaining AIM-54's at the still fighting Ha'tak.

"**Captain Carter, target the plasma turrets on the remaining Ha'tak along with the RBRG's. Let SSG Lamb finish off the other."** Between the plasma turrets, the RBRG's and the sixteen AIM-54's, the remaining Ha'tak disappeared in a brilliant fireball. A roaring cheer broke out across the bridge as the Ha'tak that was adrift also exploded from another pair of plasma bombs from the Al'kesh.

"**Avenger to Stargate Command, it's finished. The remaining Ha'tak has been destroyed."** A roar that dwarfed the one on the Avenger swept thought the SGC which could still be heard as General Hammond responded. "Great job Avenger, damn great job! Bring her home and we'll debrief in an hour." Bilgames looked around at the bridge crew.

"**Captain Carter, recall the remaining fighters and let's recover the black boxes from the others." **He then keyed the coms to the SGC again. **"Avenger to Stargate Command, I regret to inform you that we lost three of our Daggers and all of the ones Earth launched. We are recovering the black boxes as we speak."**

The jubilant mood at the SGC sobered quickly upon hearing that report. "Understood Avenger, they died heroes, each and every one of them. Come on home when you're finished, SGC out."

One hour later, Jake, Captain Carter, and SSG Lamb ringed down to the ring platform that had been set up at a secure bunker near the hidden service elevator to the SGC. Rodney McKay and Radek Zelenka worked replacing blown conduits and getting the Avenger operational again. Rodney was whining about not being asked to go down to the debriefing while Radek tried to calm him down.

"Rodney, the Avenger has to be ready in case the System Lords send reinforcements. What happens if they send more ships this time?" Rodney still whined. "We'll just blow the conduits again on the first shot. We need to seriously reinforce the relays and conduits." Both looked up at the same time. "You think?" Rodney smiled "Of course! It won't be ready by the time we leave for home but it won't take long to finish and install once we get back." Before calling back to Vega and telling them exactly what he wanted.

An hour later Bilgames and the rest returned to the ship to brief the crew. "Ok, we have new orders and a new priority. Vega will begin mass production of the Avenger class Battle Cruiser now officially designated the BC-101. The rest of us will stay here and get the defense satellites built and deployed. We will deploy three layers of them."

He paused to look around the bridge. "The first defensive layer will be here, just outside the orbit of Neptune. Layer two will be between Saturn and Uranus. The final layer will be just inside the inner ring of the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars." He paused again as everyone looked around at each other.

"Ok people, let's move it. We have a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it in." Rodney and Radek moved up to talk to Jake and Sam after everyone else left. "Radek and I had a brainstorm while we were repairing the ship after the fight." He took a deep breath and began to explain.

"We all know Naquadah is a super conductor. We have also been doing some tests on the Rodarium. We believe that if you combine the two, in theory it will make a compound able to handle the massive amount of current needed to keep the relays and conduits from blowing every time you fire the main guns." Rodney and Radek both nodded in agreement.

Jake crossed his arms and looked at Sam. "Ok, does this scare you as bad as it does me? These two have done nothing but argue and now they are agreeing completely on something"

Rodney made a face at Jake. "Oh ha ha, you're funny."

Jake laughed and walked on to help work on the satellite defense rings. "One of you ring down to the SGC and gate to Vega. I want that process started immediately and since you came up with it, I want you supervising the work." Him and Sam walked on laughing as they listened to the two scientists start arguing about who was going. Jake looked over at Sam. "Ah, that's much better." He had to reach out and catch Sam to keep her from collapsing on the deck laughing.

The work on the satellite network was proceeding pretty well. The team had been at work on it for two weeks straight. Most of the work was being done out of the Al'kesh and a makeshift station that had been set up in the asteroid belt to mine the needed materials. The metal skin for these satellites would be made of titanium and Naquadah with the titanium being mined in the asteroid belt and the Naquadah being gated in from Vega and Abydos.

The Avenger continued to patrol the solar system to guard against the time everyone knew was coming. Everyone knew the System Lords would try again soon. The new conduits had been manufactured and installed in the Avenger with outstanding results. Not only did they hold up to multiple shots from the main gun batteries, they also significantly increased the power and cool down time before another shot could be fired. Radek took time to fully upgrade all the relays and conduits in the ship with the new alloy.

Jake made a point to find where Radek was working and get a status report. Radek was as excited as a kid on Christmas morning" You're not going to believe this, but the new alloy worked even better than either of us dreamed. I have upgraded the entire conduit and relay system throughout the ship. Shield strength was increased by eighty-five percent, main battery power increased by forty-five percent, the plasma turrets power increased by fifty-five percent, and overall power to the ship was increased by forty-five percent. I think we may even be able to refine the process of making the alloy to increase its efficiency even more. But we won't know until we do further testing." Radek said with a bright twinkle in his eye.

Back on Vega the manufacturing plants had been working overtime churning out as many F-40 Daggers as they could. They had incorporated the new alloy into the current carrying conduits of the fighters as well as the new Battle Cruisers they were working on. McKay had won the argument to go back and had received permission to begin construction of an orbital shipyard that would build the larger ships the research team had designed.

Carter and Jake were working on assembling another satellite to add to the defensive ring they were placing into orbit between Jupiter and Saturn. Bilgames paused, closed his eyes really tight, and began massaging his temples. Carter looked toward the man she had grown to respect greatly of the last few months. "Are you alright?" She asked with evident concern in her voice.

Jake forced a smile before answering. "Yeah, I'm alright. It's just a headache I guess. I haven't been sleeping well because I keep having some very weird dreams that I can't make any sense of. I get these flashes of a large, beautiful city surrounded by ice or water. Sometimes it is massive battleships launching hordes of yellow lights at even larger ships that fire blue pulses of energy bolts." Bilgames took over at that point.

"**I am sorry. I fear it is my fault that my host is having problems sleeping. I have been trying to awaken possible genetic memories in his DNA. I believe I may have pushed a little too hard at times. I just feel very strongly that there is something there that can help us win this war with the Goa'uld."** With that he allowed Jake control again.

"Ok," Jake said, "that was weird. It just hit me as I was hearing Bilgames talk. I remember seeing a gate address repeatedly throughout most of the dreams and the desire to build a sort of harddrive with enough storage to hold every book ever written." He quickly wrote it down and ran off toward the bridge with Sam hot on his tail.

Once the two reached the bridge, Jake hailed the SGC. "General Hammond, I think I may have discovered something that will help protect Earth and the human race from anything the Goa'uld or anyone else for that matter may throw at us. I have a gate address that I think we need to check out. I know our orders are to finish all three layers of the satellite network but I believe this may be even more important. Sam and I will ring down in few minutes. If you can, I would ask you to send a M.A.L.P. (

Mobile Analytical Laboratory Probe)

to the coordinates I'm sending you and check it out while we are in route."

"Ok Sergeant, we'll get a M.A.L.P. in route, and I'll have Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c gear up. See you when you get here." Bilgames and Sam made their way back to the cargo hold of the Al'kesh and ringed down to SGC. Once they reached the mountain complex, Jake took off in a different direction hollering over his shoulder.

"Go on to the control room Sam, there's something I have to pick up first." With that he tore off down the hallway at a full sprint. He got several funny looks as he ran through the base but if this address was what he thought it was, he was going to need the equipment Dr. Lee had been working on for him. He got to the lab Dr. Lee was working in, in record time. "Is it ready Dr. Lee? I really think we're going to need it now." Dr. Lee looked at him curiously. "Yes, it's ready. But what the hell do you need a M.A.L.P. equipped with the largest memory storage device ever created for?"

"The largest memory storage device ever created that WE know of. The gate builders most likely made devices that would cause a 500 Zettabyte harddrive to look like a cheap thumbdrive." With that he guided the M.A.L.P. out of the lab and toward the gate room.

He parked the M.A.L.P. in the gate room then headed up to the control room. General Hammond and Colonel O'Neill looked at Jake funny. "Why do we need another M.A.L.P.?"

Jake smiled. "I had Dr. Lee build one with a MUCH larger memory storage capacity than our standard ones." He walked over to look at the findings from the original M.A.L.P. and pointed at the screen. "If I'm right, that is a Repository of Knowledge built by the actual Gate Builders." Daniel had stopped by for a visit. "Wait, I thought the Goa'uld built the gates. Wouldn't you already have that genetic knowledge?"

Bilgames fielded the question. **"No Daniel, the Goa'uld are mostly scavengers. They get most of their technology from older races. They are smart enough to reverse engineer some of it but it is never as good as the original. The Tok'ra have known for some time that there are other advanced races out there. The Gate Builders for instance were what we believe were the first incarnation of humans to develop in this galaxy. They spanned the stars and built the entire gate system."**

Daniels eyes lit up. "Gate Builders, wait you're talking about the Builders of Roads from Roman legend!" Bilgames smiled at the excited archeologist. **"That is a possibility. I'm not sure how the Gate Builders may have influenced this world, but we suspect they had at least a large colony here at the least. So my belief is that this is one of their Repositories that they seeded through the stars for when their children matured enough to know how to put that knowledge to use."**

General Hammond looked at the screen. "That's good enough for me, Colonel O'Neill, SG-1, you have a go. You leave in fifteen minutes." Jake went to gather his gear and returned to the gate room where the rest of SG-1 was waiting. Sam already had his M.A.L.P. sitting on the ramp waiting. Colonel O'Neill looked up toward the control room. "Dial her up Walter; let's go see what toys we can find."

Eight hours later O'Neill was lying on the steps below the gate in a completely sealed room. "How much longer is this going to take? You've been at this thing for eight hours now." Sam looked back at her commanding officer.

"We're doing the best we can Colonel. We've established that this is a Repository of Knowledge but we're having a bit of trouble with the interface. From what we've learned so far, a person is supposed to look into this aperture and the Repository literally downloads its stored information directly to the person's brain. The problem is it's too much information for a human brain to handle. It seems it will overwrite the information already in the person's brain and replace it with the knowledge of the Repository. It also kills that person in the process from literal brain overload."

Jack had been walking over to put his head into the interface to get this over with until he heard that it kills you. "On second thought I think I'll dial up the SGC and have some pizza sent in. I'm starving."

Bilgames looked up. **"Pizza sounds wonderful make mine super supreme with extra mushrooms."** Everyone laughed at that and went back to the nest of wires Bilgames had located in the wall adjacent to the Repository.

"**By the way Colonel, we have also discovered that to use the interface, you can't be a Goa'uld or Tok'ra in my case. The Gate Builders installed a type of failsafe to prevent just anyone from gaining access to the knowledge. It seems to have a genetic scanner that detects the symbiont and blocks access. I think I may have figured a way to get around that though. It's just going to take a little more time."**

After another eight hours Bilgames had decided to call it a night. SG-2 and SG-3 were sent through the gate to guard the Repository while SG-1 returned to the SGC. **"I'm sorry General; there is just no way to interface to the repository with the M.A.L.P. I can think of only one way that his will work and it's a long shot. But I believe it is our only chance short of years if not decades of research on the interface itself."** General Hammond just answered, "It's ok son, you don't have to apologize. You did the best that you could. We'll find another way."

"**Sir, I already have another way. It will be a bit painful but it is the only way. I will leave my host temporarily and Dr. Frazier can purge the Naquadah from Jake's bloodstream. Before I leave the host, I will have her install a micro shunt into my brainstem. I can heal Jake quickly then leave and allow Dr. Frazier to purge the bloodstream. With the shunt installed, Jake should be able to interface with the Repository and download the information through the shunt and into the M.A.L.P. without suffering the damage of retaining that much knowledge. It's not perfect and there are risks but I believe they are worth taking if it helps to save the human race."**

It took five days to complete the process of implanting the shunt, healing Jake, and purging all of the trace Naquadah markers from Jake's body. General Hammond had tried to talk Jake out of doing this but both Bilgames and Jake were in total agreement that there was no other way in the time they had.

Two SG teams were on guard at all times on the Repository planet. SG-1 gathered in the gate room. One more time, General Hammond tried to dissuade Jake from doing this. "SFC Hammer, you really don't have to do this son. We can find another way." Jake turned and looked toward the General. "I believe I have to do this Sir. I've never been an outstanding Soldier. I've always been just your average Joe until Bilgames blended with me. Then I really felt like someone special. I am the only one that has a chance to pull this off and survive it. This is just something I have to do."

General Hammond just nodded his head in acceptance. "SG-1, you have a go, Gods speed to you." With those words, SG-1 turned, walked up the ramp, and stepped through the gate.

Once SG-1 arrived on the other side of the wormhole, Jake didn't waste any time. He moved the M.A.L.P. a bit closer to the Repository and stepped in front of it. Sam attached the leads to the shunt in the base of Jake's skull and ran a quick scan of the circuits.

"Ok Jake, everything checks out. Be careful, please?" She said as she kissed him on the cheek and stepped back. Jake took a deep breath and moved closer to the open aperture of the Repository. As he neared it, the aperture sprang forward and two metal hands formed at its edges and grasped Jake by the head so he couldn't pull away. Bright multi-colored lights began shining different patterns into his eyes. Sam was standing close to him with her scanner running the entire time.

"It's working the data is being downloaded into his brain then through the shunt and into the M.A.L.P. My God, its memory is filling up fast. How is that possible? That's 500 Zettabytes of storage space! This program must be massive. Her instruments showed the memory on the M.A.L.P. was almost full. I hope it's almost finished, the data storage is almost full. A few seconds later a beep indicated the M.A.L.P. could hold no more data but data was still being downloaded into Jake's brain.

It went on for nearly a full minute after the harddrive had been completely filled. The lights in the interface shut off and the hands released Jake allowing him to slide down onto the floor unconscious. Carter quickly knelt down beside Jake and checked his pulse before turning to SG-2.

"Get him to the infirmary now! We need to get Bilgames implanted immediately!" Jake had already had a crash cart and gurney standing by as a precaution. SG-2 and a med team lifted Jake onto the gurney as Carter had already disconnected the shunt from the M.A.L.P. The med team checked all of his vitals as two members of SG-2 strapped him to the gurney. "He's stable so we don't need to hook him to the crash cart yet. Let's get him back so he can be rejoined with his symbiont." Dr. Frazier said.

Dr. Janet Frazier still wasn't comfortable calling the symbiont by name. Fourteen hours later Jake woke with one of the most massive migraines he had ever experienced. _**"It will pass in a few minutes. You absorbed a massive amount of knowledge. I have determined you will suffer no ill effects as I am with you to "spread the wealth" as you humans say."**_

Jake heard his symbiont say in his thoughts. "_Welcome back my friend. I wasn't sure how to feel when I could no longer hear your thoughts. I felt like a piece of me had been ripped away and I was only half of a man."_ Jake looked to his right to see Carter sitting in a chair with her head resting on her arms at the edge of his bed. He couldn't help but smile. "Hey sleepy head, were you here the whole time?" Upon hearing his voice, Sam looked up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "Hey you, how are you feeling?"

"I feel like I've just came off a long weekend drunk. Bilgames says it will pass in a few minutes and that he can't find any damage to worry about." Sam smiled at him and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek before she went to get Janet. A few minutes later she returned with Dr. Frazier in tow. "Well Sergeant, how are you feeling?"

Janet asked as she began looking him over and checking all of his vitals. Jake grinned before saying. "Other than a slight headache, which Bilgames says will go away soon, I'm STARVING!" Everyone cracked up laughing at that. "I see no reason for you to stay here. But if that headache doesn't go away or if it gets worse, you get back here immediately."

Dr. Frazier ordered. Jake cracked a smile from ear to ear and through up a sharp salute. "Yes Ma'am Doctor Ma'am. I'll come back if anything gets worse or this doesn't go away." He sat there for a bit with both women looking at him. "You can leave and pull the curtain. I do have to get dressed you know." Sam and Janet laughed and started to walk away but Sam turned back and kissed Jake on the cheek again.

"You sure I can't stay and watch?" She whispered in his ear as she finished the kiss. "Get out of here young lady." Jake told her teasingly. The twinkle in her eye said it all as she kissed his cheek again and left, pulling the curtain closed behind her.

In his mind he heard Bilgames say _**"Careful with that one my friend. That's one hell of a Lady."**_ Jake sat quiet a little bit before answering. _"That she is my friend, that she is. But military regulations won't let me even pursue the opportunity. I may just go ahead and retire."_

Jake finished getting dressed and pulled the curtain back. Carter was waiting for him as he walked out of the infirmary. "Do you want to eat here or wait until we get back to Vega?" Jake thought about it for a bit. "Let's eat here then I need to talk to General Hammond about something. The lasagna is better here than what we have on Vega anyway." He said with a twinkle in his eye.

After a much larger lunch than he normally ate, Jake and Sam walked back toward the gate room. They walked up the steps to the control room before passing through to take the spiral steps up to the briefing room and the General's office. Jake stopped by the briefing table and looked into Sam's eyes before walking to the door of General Hammond's office and knocking.

"May I talk to you for a moment Sir?" Jake asked. The General put down the folder he was reading. "Sure son, come on it. How are you feeling?" Jake stepped in and closed the door behind him before taking a seat in front of the General's desk. "I'm feeling much better now that I have eaten. Bilgames says he can find nothing that will cause any damage from the download and he feels comfortable the data I have in my head will be safe." General Hammond smiled slightly. "That's good son, that's real damn good. So you think we'll be able to use this information?"

"Yes Sir, I am more than confident that this will be the break we need to protect Earth and any Allies we may make well into the future. But I came to ask you if I retire right now, will it affect my place on SG-1?" General Hammond looked at Jake with a puzzling expression on his face. "Retire? Why would you want to retire from the program?"

Jake shook his head. "No Sir. I don't want to retire from the program, just retire from the Army. I want to stay with the program and even on SG-1 if I can. I'll even do it for free, except for my retirement pay that is." The General couldn't help but notice that SFC Hammer could not take his eyes off of Captain Carter. It dawned on him why Jake was asking about retiring.

"I see. I also understand why. I see no reason why you can't remain on the team as a civilian. Teal'c is not military and he's an invaluable asset to the team. I'll forward my recommendation up the chain and get the paperwork started for you. Also I see you're doing fine so you're both free to go back to Vega and begin working on the database when you're ready. I have already sent the M.A.L.P. through so it will be waiting on you when you return home." Jake stood up and shook the General's hand. "Thank you Sir. You don't know how much this means to me."

Jake left the Generals office and met up with Captain Carter in the briefing room. Sam had a concerned look on her face as Jake approached her. "Is everything alright Jake?" She asked in a worried tone. Jake took her hand and smiled at her and said in a soft voice. "Everything is perfectly alright Sam. It actually couldn't be better. I just asked the General that if I retire right now, would it affect me still being able to work for the SGC. He said he had no problem with it and is getting the paperwork started with his approval."

Sam let out a very excited high pitched squeal and threw her arms around Jake's neck before collecting herself. "I guess we have to wait until you retire for that." Jake smiled and gently kissed her cheek then whispered. "As long as we keep it professional on the job, what they don't see or hear won't hurt them in my opinion."

Sam smiled up at him with sparkling Blue eyes before kissing him on the cheek and following him toward the gate room. When they entered the gate room, Master Sergeant Walter Harriman started the dialing sequence to Vega. As the sound of the gate activating receded, Jake turned to look at the people in the control room and waved. "Thank you Walter, and thank you General. We'll keep you appraised on anything we uncover in the database." Then Sam and Jake walked through the gate to return to Vega.

It only took a couple of weeks for Jake's retirement packet to be approved. He had already given the Army twenty-four years and with General Hammond adding his approval, the process was very smooth. Jake had been working in secret on something he found in the database to give to Sam if everything progressed to the point of him asking her to marry him.

By the time his retirement came through, a second BC-101 had been completed and was named Prometheus. Jake had been able to vastly improve the process of building the ships using some of the data he deciphered from the Ancient database. They could now build ships faster than they could train crews to man them. The satellite network around Earth had destroyed a scout ship that came snooping around the solar system. Jake had found a better type of satellite in the Ancient database that he had immediately began production on. Once Jake had retired, he had been given oversight and control (Command) of the base on Vega.

The satellite was called the Lagrange Point Satellite. It was designed as a network to be placed on the Lagrange Points of a planet or star. Power requirements were small for overall the power of the satellite itself. The Naquadah reactors Bilgames had developed with Captain Carter would be more than enough to power the weapon, shields, and the hyperspace and tachyon sensors that would detect a ship in hyperspace or even a cloaked ship.

The Lagrange Point Satellite Network could be placed and tied into the existing network to exponentially boost the current networks effectiveness. Jake had also kept his word to Kasuf and returned to Abydos with the Avenger and a team of Engineers. Using the advanced manufacturing methods he had learned from the database, he built a satellite system around Abydos like the one around Earth. The U.S. Military had also sent hundreds of combat Soldiers and pilots through the gate to man the new base the Engineers built.

The Avenger made several trips between Abydos and Vega to bring in the F-40's that would be the new fighter wing to protect the Abydonians and their new mining operation. There were also plans being drawn up to build an orbital station as a hub and processing center for the ore being mined on the surface. The Abydonians opted to continue their lives as they had for thousands of years. With the minor exception of a few modern conveniences here and there, they continued on as usual.

Some of the younger generation like Skaara and his friends decided to live on the base to learn new ways of living and some even joined the SGC. Jake had petitioned to have an Academy set up on Vega where they could train crew members that were not originally from Earth. And because of the ability to build ships faster than they could crew them, it had been approved but it took a lot of pushing by now General O'Neill and General Hammond.

Back on Earth at the SGC, MSgt Walter Harriman jumped when the lights in the gate room began flashing and the alarm of an incoming wormhole sounded throughout the complex. "Unauthorized incoming wormhole, defense teams to the gate room."

His voice echoed over the intercom system as the thud of running boots came from the hallway. By the time the gate had finished its dialing sequence, an entire platoon of Air Force Combat Controllers (Air Force Special Forces) had taken up defensive positions around the gate. They were all carrying the new plasma rifle that Bilgames had reverse engineered from the Jaffa Staff weapons. There were also two heavy weapon emplacements on either side of the gate. Each emplacement had a modified Staff cannon. The iris had already swirled closed but it was better safe than sorry.

Everyone around the gate and watching from the control room waited to see what was going to happen. After a tense minute that actually felt like an eternity, an audio signal came from the gate. **"Hello? Is anyone there? I am Garshaw of the Tok'ra high council. Is this the Tau'ri?"**

General O'Neill looked toward General Hammond who was visiting from the Pentagon today. "This is General O'Neill of Stargate Command. What can we do for you Garshaw?" There was another short pause.

"**General O'Neill is it? Well it is nice to meet you. We desperately need to get in contact with one of our operatives. I believe you will know him as Jacob Hammer. We have known him as Bilgames for many centuries. We did not part on the best of terms last time we met. But I must warn both of you. The remaining System Lords have put aside their petty in fighting for the moment and formed a temporary coalition with the single purpose of destroying the Tau'ri. From what our other operatives were able to learn, they will be entering your star system in the next two or three days."**

O'Neill's face turned ghost white. "Thank you for the warning Garshaw, I'll make sure he gets the information and I will get it to my commanding officers as well, O'Neill out." With that that he made a slashing motion across his throat and MSgt Harriman cut the connection to the gate and immediately began dialing Vega. Jake had found a way, using the Ancient database, to "hang up" on an incoming wormhole. He said it was similar to hanging up your phone on an unwanted conversation. He just hoped he could get in touch with Jake in time to get both battle cruisers and all the Daggers they could carry here before the Goa'uld showed up.

**Ok, now that I have completed book one of Desperate Decisions, I have decided to try and breathe some life back into this story. I have cleaned up some of the mistakes and broke up the long paragraphs to make it easier to read. I will start on chapter three and have it out as soon as possible.**


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